Crafting a New Era of Indulgence: Pawan Saluja’s Vision for Transforming Indulge Creamery into India’s Next Café Phenomenon

New Delhi [India], December 4: Indulge Creamery—one of India’s fastest-rising artisanal ice cream brands—is stepping into a new chapter with the launch of the Indulge Creamery Café in Bandra West, Mumbai. This new format marks the brand’s evolution from a pure product-driven venture into a fully curated café experience, bringing together its signature ice creams with speciality coffees, gourmet sandwiches, handcrafted shakes, and freshly baked desserts. Rooted in globally inspired flavours and premium-quality ingredients, Indulge Creamery is now translating its ethos of refined indulgence into a warm, thoughtfully designed space crafted for leisurely moments, intimate conversations, and everyday luxury.

Guiding this transition is Pawan Saluja, the understated yet determined force behind the brand. His connection to food was shaped not by sudden inspiration but by years spent around family tables where hospitality was a way of life, not a ritual. In a home where meals were created with care, instinct, and generosity, he absorbed the idea that flavour is an emotion and food is an experience. Those early impressions now define his culinary philosophy: food isn’t merely consumed—it is felt, remembered, and shared.

While his professional education at the Emirates Academy and the International Centre for Culinary Arts (ICCA) in Dubai refined his technical skill, Pawan often reflects that his real training had begun much earlier. His professional journey then took him across continents and cuisines, each destination adding nuance to his creative lens. Italy taught him restraint and simplicity. The Middle East introduced him to structured excellence softened by warmth. Asia revealed balance as both a culinary and emotional principle. Over time, these influences shaped his belief that good food does not shout, it lingers.

The idea for Indulge Creamery emerged from a simple but powerful gap in the market: most desserts were made to satisfy hunger, not curiosity. “Ice cream in India was largely about sweetness, speed and scale,” says Pawan. “I believed there was space for something decadent, richer and more considered, where flavour evolves and every element exists for a reason.” For him, indulgence is not excess, but harmony. It is the balance between richness and clarity, between nostalgia and refinement. That belief now anchors everything from ingredient sourcing to flavour development.

Building an artisanal brand in a country driven by scale came with challenges, particularly in mastering cold-chain logistics, ensuring flavour consistency and maintaining uncompromised quality across regions. Today, Indulge Creamery operates with a production capacity of 10,000 litres per day, with strong infrastructure that allows the brand to scale without dilution. “We chose to build demand before increasing capacity,” Pawan explains. “Expansion must always follow value. Without that, growth is noise.”

The brand’s growth has been swift and telling: nearly 40% month-on-month demand and a repeat purchase rate of more than 50%. Indulge Creamery now operates through a strong omni-channel network, serving customers through Zomato, Swiggy, Instamart, Blinkit and Zepto across Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Gurgaon and Ahmedabad, along with placement in premium gourmet stores such as Food Square, Bombay Gourmet, Plum and Modern Bazaar. Its growing portfolio includes 450 ml tubs, 100 ml cups and indulgent ice cream bars, making premium ice cream accessible without losing its identity.

“What we’ve learnt,” Pawan adds, “is that India is value-sensitive, not price-sensitive. When the quality is real, and the experience is honest, people return. They don’t just buy the product; they buy the story.”

That story now comes alive physically at Indulge Creamery Café in Bandra, the brand’s first experiential destination. More than an expansion, the café is a natural extension of Pawan’s creative ethos. Designed as a sanctuary for everyday indulgence, it merges premium ice creams with artisanal coffees, indulgent shakes, boutique desserts, freshly baked cookies and thoughtfully crafted burgers.

“The café was never about adding more,” says Pawan. “It was about deepening the experience. I wanted a space where you could walk in for a coffee and stay for a scoop, or arrive for dessert and end up exploring flavours you didn’t plan to.” The café reflects the same restraint he applies to his flavours, elegant, warm and emotionally intuitive.

As the brand grows, so does Pawan’s ambition. His phase-one expansion includes deeper roots in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, followed by further expansion into Delhi, Gurgaon, Pune and Ahmedabad. While the business remains fully bootstrapped, strategic collaborations are on the horizon, and the long-term plan includes scaling Indulge into a 100+ outlet brand across India in the next three to five years, alongside pan-India retail and e-commerce distribution.

“My goal is not to build fast,” Pawan emphasises. “It’s to build right. Indulge must grow with integrity, not urgency.” International markets are also on the radar, with global expansion envisioned within the next few years.

At its heart, Indulge Creamery remains a reflection of its founder, calm yet ambitious, refined yet welcoming, crafted but never try-hard. Whether through a scoop, a coffee or a quiet seat in Bandra, Pawan Saluja is building a brand that invites India to experience, savour deeply and indulge intentionally.

Because in his world, indulgence isn’t a guilty pleasure – it’s a way of living beautifully.