Who doesn't love ice cream? But the lack of nutrition makes it a guilty pleasure.

Ice cream lover Aarti Laxman Rastogi decided that not all indulgences need be sinful, and in March 2018, she started her business Artinci to provide ice creams with premium, all-natural ingredients.

Artinci offers clean-label ice cream that’s natural, free of stabilizers, emulsifiers and artificial flavorings, and is crafted in small batches. “We wanted to offer ice creams that we would ourselves like to eat,” says Aarti.

But running a business comes with challenges, and for Aarti especially, the WhatsApp Business app has been a helpful tool.

"WhatsApp is a great communication enabler for me"

“I have a hearing disability and I don’t do phone calls. WhatsApp is a great communication enabler for me. I text my way through the planning and execution of any business day. It helps to give and receive instructions in writing too, for complete clarity in communication, and leaves no room for misinterpretation.”

In addition to helping Aarti communicate with customers, the WhatsApp Business app also helped the company successfully launch a special limited edition of healthier ice creams made with jaggery, a type of raw sugar. “We sold out half of this batch, through WhatsApp exclusively,” she says.

Artinci’s WhatsApp Business number is on all their packaging. In fact, they’ve also directly shipped ice creams to customers when the delivery points ran out of stock. “WhatsApp helps us be agile and highly responsive and in enabling our products to reach our customers wherever they may be in Bangalore.”

Aarti says it helps to communicate with customers mindfully without spamming them to earn customer trust.

In addition to selling natural, chemical-free ice cream, Artinci has a larger mission: “We prioritize providing livelihoods to diverse sections of our community — persons with disability, those who identify as LGBT, among others,” says Aarti.

They currently have 14 members in their fast-growing team, and have expanded their footprint in Bangalore to five locations, with two more in the near future.

Now people can enjoy their ice cream without guilt and also feel good about it.