Today we’d like to introduce you to Kiran Cheema.
Hi Kiran, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started Kulfi in 2019 with my husband, Gagan. I was born and raised in Vancouver, BC, and when I moved to Portland, I found myself really missing a lot of the flavors I had grown up around. Being South Asian and growing up in such a multicultural city, Asian flavors were just a normal part of my life.
At the time, I was between jobs and started making kulfi at home for fun. Eventually, we decided to buy a bike cart and give selling it a try. We started at farmers markets and pop-ups around Portland, honestly not really knowing what we were doing. Slowly, we started seeing the same customers come back, getting really great feedback, and realizing that maybe there was something here.
We eventually moved into a tiny 260-square-foot walk-up shop on Alberta, and then into our current Portland shop on Williams, where we were able to expand into churned ice cream and a much larger menu of South Asian and Asian-inspired flavors.
This August, we opened our second location in Beaverton. It’s been a very organic journey. We never started with a big plan to build multiple shops. We just kept taking the next step as people continued to show up for what we were making, and it’s pretty surreal to see what it’s grown into.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not! We started in the summer of 2019 and were just starting to get the hang of things when our season ended. We had big plans for 2020, and then COVID happened and we had to completely pivot. We took pretty much any opportunity we could get. A lot of them were a bust, but we just kept plugging along.
Our first shop took 16 months to open because COVID slowed everything down, including permitting, and the delays almost killed the business. Then, as soon as we finally opened, we realized the space was way too small.
We eventually moved into our current location on N Williams, but even that was slower than we expected at first. A lot of people didn’t know what kulfi was or were hesitant to commit to unfamiliar flavors in bar form. We had funded the entire business ourselves, putting everything we made right back into it, so we had to figure out another pivot.
We eventually started making churned ice cream at Williams, which meant customers could finally sample our flavors before committing to them. That completely changed the business for us. Once people could taste what we were making, they were much more willing to try flavors that were new to them.
Things are going really well now, but I don’t think the challenges ever stop when you own a small business. We’re still constantly learning, problem-solving and figuring things out as we go.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Kulfi?
Kulfi is a small-batch ice cream shop rooted in South Asian flavors but inspired by the many cultures we grew up around. We started with traditional kulfi bars and have since expanded into churned ice cream.
We make all of our ice cream and kulfi in-house, by hand, in small batches. We’re very particular about our ingredients and the texture of our ice cream. We focus on high-quality ingredients, high butterfat, and churning with minimal air to create an ice cream that’s incredibly rich, dense, and creamy.
Our approach to flavor has always been what we jokingly call “authentically inauthentic.” A lot of that comes from our third-culture experience, growing up South Asian in North America with immigrant parents. We’re not trying to make everything traditionally or put rules around what certain flavors are supposed to be. We take ingredients and flavors we love, combine influences from different parts of our lives, and have fun with them.
I think what sets us apart is that we’re not afraid to build our menu around flavors that aren’t traditionally found in American ice cream shops. At the same time, we want Kulfi to feel really approachable. We’re big on sampling and encourage people to try things, ask questions, and discover something they might not normally order.
Brand-wise, I’m most proud that we’ve stayed true to ourselves as we’ve grown. We started Kulfi because we wanted to see more of the flavors and cultures we grew up with represented, and that’s still at the center of what we do. Seeing someone get excited because they recognize a flavor from their childhood is just as rewarding as watching someone experience that flavor for the very first time.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
The best way to support us is simply to visit our shops, try some ice cream, and tell your friends about us! As a small business, word of mouth and seeing familiar faces come back again and again means so much to us.
We also love collaborating with other small businesses, especially when we can use their products or ingredients in our recipes. Some of our favorite flavors have come from working with other local makers and finding creative ways to bring what we both do together.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kulfipdx.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kulfipdx
