PETALING JAYA, Feb 24 -- It's hot. You crave a cool fix but not the extra inches on your waistline. How about Calli ice cream, maybe?
It's hard to believe but each pint of Calli ice cream has an average of 350 calories. That's one third of what is usually contained in your average pint of ice cream.
And don't worry, taste is not comprised so you can indulge to your heart's content as you binge on Netflix or the latest K-drama.
We dare you to try their durian ice cream and not fall in love with it! Produced locally, they offer a range of four flavours such as Choc-a-lot, Caramel-by-the-sea, Durian Durian and Earl Grey Teh. Since it hit the market late last year, the low-calorie ice cream has won many fans.
Calli, which stands for low calorie, was started by Mohammad Dzarrin Alidin (Dzarrin) and Nathaniel Loe.
Both of them were schoolmates in Singapore with a keen love for sports (Fun fact: They're both track and field athletes!).
When Nathaniel went off to study architecture, Dzarrin traded in agricultural commodities. When an opportunity arose, they set up LushProtein about five years ago to provide sports nutrition products.
"Along the way, we realised we can't run away from desserts... it's our Achilles heel," said Dzarrin. The number one request was for ice cream from their customers.
Even the duo's wives clamoured for a guilt-free cold indulgence. Using their sports nutritional expertise, they came up with this low calorie cold treat.
Nathaniel added, "We realised that it's not easy to get good food choices out there. Either it's expensive or the taste is compromised so we thought we can do something better."
The R&D took up to a year. "We wanted to hit one third of the calories of the ice cream out there and wanted it to taste just as good. The texture also has to be as good as the other ice creams. We didn't want it to be any compromise," explained Nathaniel.
Their hard work paid off... the ice cream has a luscious smooth texture. It doesn't melt as much though since it's more solid with its protein powder base.
Nathaniel also elaborated that the ice cream is very dense since they don't pump in as much air compared to other commercial brands.
Balancing the sugar content without losing the flavour was also a big challenge. For instance, the durian ice cream uses just the right amount of pure D24 durian pulp to give it that unmistakable flavour
Other steps taken include caramelising the sugar (for the salted caramel flavour) or steeping Earl Grey tea leaves to extract that distinct bergamot flavour. Even their chocolate ice cream uses Belgian chocolate for a richer taste.
These flavours weren't randomly picked but from research done via focus groups. “We didn't want to create ice cream like your typical chocolate, strawberry or vanilla. We wanted to create something different,” said Dzarrin.
The flavours went through their R&D to determine which ones worked well with their ingredients. Eventually they settled on these four.
Chocolate is a safe bet that everyone tends to reach for first. Once they are blown away by its rich flavour, they start exploring the others like the durian, which is also the duo's personal favourite. It's even won over Dzarrin who is more of a chocolate lover.
Once word hit the street of Calli ice cream among the duo's contacts from LushProtein, they went crazy.
Nathaniel added, "We didn't have to advertise or market it. The moment we said we were doing this, the fitness crowd came running as they had heard about similar products sold overseas."
What they wanted was not to just limit themselves to that segment of customers. "We don't want to just market it as a fitness product as we want to make it a mass product. We want it to be in the hands of as many people as possible, that is why we want it to taste just as good as Haagen Dazs which is people's frame of reference for premium ice cream."
With their LushProtein experience, they knew there'd be a long lead time before the ice cream could hit the supermarkets. Hence, they decided to introduce it via an e-commerce platform. "We have to be quick as there's an impulse factor to it. When people want ice cream, they want it tonight!", explained Nathaniel.
The duo also wanted to change people's buying patterns. “We're changing the habits of people as buying ice cream is either by going to the scoop shop or supermarket. That is why we pushed for the online space,” said Dzarrin.
If you prefer the conventional supermarket route, Calli can be purchased at Village Grocer and Ben's Independent Grocer (BIG). In Singapore, it can be found at NTUC.
Plans are also underway to make this product available via other channels, whether it's bazaars or even collaborating with F&B outlets. Currently marketed in tubs, they also hope to introduce single servings like bars as it's more convenient. New flavours will also be rolled out every quarter.
Calli ice cream can be ordered via their website. You can also get it through Honestbee, Grab Food, Fuel Athletics, Vitruvio Gym, Village Grocer and Ben's Independent Grocer (BIG).
