What has civil engineering got to do with ice cream making? The answer obviously would be ‘nothing’. But there is a Jadavpur University civil engineer in Kolkata, who is trying to make fortune out of ice cream making, and that too ice cream without milk!

QuintoFabio India, a fledgling company floated by a JU civil engineer Arpan Ganguly, has started selling ice cream under the Quintos Sorbet brand name. The ice cream is made within JU campus (at the chemical engineering department). Ganguly claims the technology is simple: they just take fruits, pulp them up, strain them, add preservatives and put them in a churner freezer. It’s healthy and refreshing.

A foodie by passion, Ganguly left his reasonably well-paying job with Afcons, which he got through campus placement, to start his own venture. “The seven-month-old firm is already getting orders from wedding and birthday parties. We are also in talks with some schools and shopping malls to put up retail kiosks,” said Arpan Ganguly, founder-director, QuintoFabio India.

According to a recent study, the ice-cream market is dominated by players like Kwality Walls and Amul. Besides, an array of premium ice-cream parlours has mushroomed in various parts of the city including big names like Baskin Robbins and Gelato. “There does not exist any competition in the ‘sorbet’ segment in which the firm offers its products. We are confident there is a huge potential an ice-cream like product has in urban market. Our immediate focus is to have at least two kiosks in two Kolkata shopping malls, to set up small retail units in four to five top schools in Kolkata by July 2012 and supply to a minimum of three fine dining restaurants in and around Kolkata,” said Ganguly.