Being Healthy Un-Cone-Ditionally

It’s 9pm in the evening. You saunter across the kitchen as you approach the fridge. Amidst the scavenging for a sweet treat, a thought flashes across your mind. You look down at yourself thinking how those love handles came about (imaginary as it may be)? “Those 9-5s spent sitting at the ergonomic chair has led me to this!” you defensively accused. Maybe I should have gotten a standing desk? The more you craved for a decadent pint of cookies n cream, the more the guilt consumes you. You punish yourself and got ready for bed. Your columnist frequents this dilemma, more often than he would care to admit.

The indulgence of a sweet treat doesn’t have to make you feel guilty. That is the founding philosophy of Mr. Herlambang and Ms. Cantika, the budding young founders of the low-calorie ice-cream brand, Friday Creamery, the newest addition to Kolibra’s “Level-Up” Program. As you are reading this, the dynamic duo are anticipating the opening of their Jakarta shipping point. This brings their supply-chain closer (physically and emotionally) to their clients, most of whom hail from the swelteringly hot capital. Their humble beginnings saw the brand achieve Rockstar fame in Surabaya, propelling them to become the most recognizable low-calorie ice-cream label in the city.

With every good brand, lies an even better story. Friday Creamery’s doesn’t disappoint. Both founders, for one, are worlds apart prior to this venture. Mr. Herlambang hails from an IT background. Meanwhile Ms. Cantika spent her days in the field of architecture. She was as far to the world of ice-cream making as Le Corbusier was to playing by the rules. Yet the two worlds collide as the two friends share an unequivocal passion for healthy living. Beginning from the gym to what you put on your plate, both Cantika and Herlambang believe in the dictum that you are what you eat. However, often what is healthy and what is delicious contradict. That’s the technical glitch they sought to fix.

Enter the idea of the guilt-free ice-cream. Both founders observed the deficiency in the number of market players offering low-calorie ice-cream that does not compromise on flavour. We are no strangers to the notion that eating healthy is often a punishing ordeal, conjuring images of unseasoned carrot sticks and unsweetened oat milk. Friday Creamery wants to remove that stigma and contribute to providing a wider array of choices for healthy indulgence. Their tagline “your everyday ice-cream” is a homage to the notion that more than anything, living healthy should be a lifestyle, not a boot camp. Hence, even ice-cream, a coveted guilty-pleasure, can contribute to your regular diet, without all that guilt.

They have devised a brilliant solution to ensure that, on average, their products contains 5x less calories than your conventional ice-cream brand. In fact, an entire one of their pint is worth the calorie of just a single scoop from Haagen-Dazs. What earns the hearts and minds of their consumers is Friday Creamery’s offering of a plethora of flavours guaranteed not to bore. From the classic vanilla to sexy chocolate, mint, and dark cookie, they have it all. Their newest flavour: the unicorn, a tricolored ice-cream that is the stuff of wonders.

However, running a business is no walk in the park. Both fresh-faced founders still face the challenges of the ins-and-outs and best practices of running a business in its most optimal sense. Everything from keeping the books to managing inventory is a work of trial and error. This is where Kolibra enters the picture. In line with our value to nurture and grow young but promising companies, we seek to provide the expertise, opportunities, and access to capital for this exciting company. The Kolibra team is beyond excited to provide the necessary guidance and to see both the firm and its founders grow across the years. And not to mention, the excitement is palpable given the good ice-cream supply for our office fridge.

The next time you find yourself staring at your fridge at 9pm, deliberating on whether ice-cream is worth the guilty calories, think of Friday Creamery. Just maybe, it can be your everyday ice-cream.