I love ice cream. I really do. I mean there are days when I can sell my soul for a tub of ice cream. And there have been days when only getting through a tub of ice cream has pulled me through depression so severe that I havent even put my lipstick on. I have sacrificed diets, slim fit dresses, and the ability to run in a public situation for the love of icecream.
And naturally, given that I love icecream, it is but natural that when I heard that Haagen Daz was coming into India I would hyperventilate with joy. That I would count my pennies and put them into the piggy bank in anticipation of ODing on icecream in flavours so sinful that only sex could be better. And then I read this.
I suggest you pause and read it too before you go any further. And you come back once you’re done. I read that the Mumbai outlet is here. I dont think I’m going there soon. If someone, with an Indian passport, is around Tirupati Apartments, and carrying their passport with them at the moment they decide they would like to have an icecream, I would really like to know what the policy is at the Mumbai store.
Why are we even letting this company do business in India? What does this mean for us as a nation? That we are not worthy enough of tasting Haagen Daz? That we dont appreciate good icecream? Or that we cant afford it? Or perhaps, that we are not worthy of entering their pristine hallowed premises?
An apology would be good. Better would be running them out of India.
Edited to add: Apparently the policy has now been dropped and the store is open to all Indians. I am still not going there. I belong to the Groucho Marx school of thought.
About Kiran Manral
Kiran Manral is a writer and major social media influencer. After quitting her full-time journalist’s job when her son was born, Kiran became a mommy blogger on the internet, with a remarkably original voice. She was a journalist at The Asian Age, The Times of India, features editor Cosmopolitan, India Cultural Lead and Trend spotter at Gartner Iconoculture US, Senior Consultant at Vector Insights, Ideas Editor, SheThePeople.TV. Kiran is currently a celebrated author and an independent research and media consultant.
She was shortlisted for the Femina Women Awards for Literary Contribution in 2017. The Indian Council of UN Relations (ICUNR) supported by the Ministry of Women and Children, Govt of India, awarded her the International Women’s Day Award 2018 for excellence in the field of writing. In 2021 she was awarded the Womennovator 1000 Women of Asia award. In 2022, she was named amongst the 75 Iconic Indian women in STEAM by Red Dot Foundation and Beyond Black, in collaboration with the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India, and British High Commission, New Delhi.
Her novella, Saving Maya, was long-listed for the 2018 Saboteur Award, supported by the Arts Council of England in the UK. Her novels 'The Face At the Window’ and ‘Missing, Presumed Dead were both long-listed for Jio MAMI Word to Screen, and ‘The Face at the Window’ was showcased at the South Asian Film Festival 2019. The Kitty Party Murder was shortlisted for the Popular Choice award at the 2021 JK Papers TOI AutHER awards.
Her other books include The Reluctant Detective, Once Upon A Crush, All Aboard, Karmic Kids-The Story of Parenting Nobody Told You, A Boy’s Guide to Growing Up, True Love Stories, 13 Steps to Bloody Good Parenting, Raising Kids with Hope and Wonder in Times of a Pandemic and Climate Change, More Things in Heaven and Earth and Rising: 30 Women Who Changed India. She also has published short stories in various magazines, in acclaimed anthologies like Have A Safe Journey, Boo, The Best Asian Speculative Fiction 2018, Grandpa’s Tales, Magical Women and City of Screams. Kiran lives in Mumbai with her family.
Social media handles
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiranManral
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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiranmanral/
Fortytwoandcounting 
i agree me dont want it either
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This is just ridiculous and the article also says that is owned by an Indian. Why such an attitude? Did he think he was high and mighty and only foriegners can afford and appreciate what he has to sell? Or is there something else going on there, that he doesn’t want the Indian public to know???
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i don’t completely oppose it. now kesab & co. will have a perfect place to attack foreigners in mumbai.
hail hageen dazs 😛
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I ate Haagen Dazs waffles & ice-cream last year in Germany. To be fair to the brand, the waffles are undoubtedly sinful but the ice-cream is nothing to write home about. It’s like any other ‘good’ phoren ice-cream that we get here like Baskin&Robbin or Gelato & it costs twice as much! Trust me, you won’t be missing out too much 🙂
I’m not entering the parlour EVER either ! I think the HD folks are plain stupid rather than elitist. They could write a guide on how to commit corporate suicide
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Buggers
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Screw them!
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By the way Kiran, you live in Mumbai. Don’t you like Naturals? i love their custard apple flavor. and the tender coconut one. And of course, the lychee too.
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I fail to understand as to why this person should open a store in India when he has got such a ‘high’ opinion for us Indians? The right thing for us to do is not not go to this place at all and make him close this outlet. He deserves it!!
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Really? Well, I won’t have Haagen Daz any more either! This is ridiculous. Dekhte hain how it will survive in India now.
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I am not having Haagen Daaz again! This is so ridiculous! How could they think they could get away with something like this!
🙂
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I read that blog and I agree with the closing paragraph in that blog. It’s us..we as Indians who are at fault! Owner of that branch is responsible for that policy..it is ridiculous specially when you consider the fact that out of India..it’s allowed to every one! I mean every one who can pay $3! so when there is no discrimination against Indians or for that matter any other ethnicity out of India by this icecream brand then how can this be done in India! Don’t like it but I feel that it’s the owner at fault..
Someone at head office will approve the communication right. We cant blame the owner, he is just a franchisee owner.
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By the way I think this was my first comment on your blog..You are superb writer and I enjoy reading your blog! Your blog has become part of my every day life and I wait for your next entry..your blog is not just funny but somehow I as a woman..learn something from you. Keep writing.
I will. Thank you. Honoured.
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Seriously Haagen Daaz? You get tubs of it in every mediocre supermarket. Why the snobbery? A kulfi can beat its pants.
Lets take Kulfi to their country and not sell it to them. 😉
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kiran, are you sure it was not extending the international flavors reference…international passports , international flavors. say fashions for the fashionistas? perhaps thoda misinterpret hogaya?
—–the devil’s advocate
They didnt let an Indian enter the store.
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This has finally made it to mainstream news today. Front page ET and also in TOI. The franchisees and their ad agency say it was an unfortunate choice of words which was misinterpreted. I say bullshit. The sign said exactly what it they wanted it to say, no misinterpretation. As for their stance that they turned away the Indian gentleman who took the photo because they had no space…I repeat..bullshit. How crowded could a premium icecream showroom possibly get? Hopefully people will stay away from this brand, there are other better icecreams available in the market.
I dont buy that argument either. Anyway.
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Actually Kiran….it was put up by the owner of the shop who is an Indian. It was not endorsed by the makers of Haagen Daz. They have branches in other Asian countries too but never had such problems. I think the ad agency had gone crazy!
Whatever. Someone at the head office would have approved the campaign right?
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Where is the sena when you need them most ? Is the outlet still there ?
It is. This happened in Delhi. Had it happened in Mumbai they would have been done for.
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I loved Haaggen Daz ice-cream when I had it in Singapore first… But reading what all has happened, makes me sad… Also considering that the store will be next to where I stay, whenever I am in Mumbai…
🙂
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I have sworn off Haagen Dazs myself!!
🙂
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Is Haagen Daz really to blame for this? They have outlets in numerous places in Asia, and there have never been such problems reported (at least not that I am aware).
I have a feeling that it is the owner of this particular store that is to blame.
Doesn’t make sense to boycott Haagen Daz itself, I think…
Dunno. An Indian citizen was officially turned away from the store. Saying the store was for firangs only. Thats reason enough for me to cut it out of my diet.
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Buttwipes. I don’t care for their ice-cream that much, but from this day on, I am not eating it either.
🙂
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