BENGALURU : Summer hit the city early this year, with day temperatures crossing 30°Celsius even as early as February. Bengalureans can be seen doing things to stay cool this summer, and one of the best ways is grabbing a cold ice cream.The city’s many ice cream brands are competing with each other and upping their ante to attract customers. Karnataka Milk Federation’s (KMF) Nandini parlours also introduced 20 new flavours last month, based on popular demand. KMF officials told CE their sales have increased by 40 per cent this summer.

There are 12 dealers in the city, with about 8,000 litres of ice cream being delivered every day. This amount to could increase to 12,000 litres in the next few months, they said.Flavours such as chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and pista are bestsellers. “We plan to introduce two new flavours every month. Litchi has been introduced this week,” said V C Venkatesha, Joint Director, Marketing Division, KMF.

Another 10 flavours will be introduced this month. “I supply to about 180 outlets and make `2.5 lakh a day. Now, the sales have increased by 50 per cent,” said Amarnath, Mathru Enterprises, which supplies ice cream to Nandini outlets.

Sridhar, who runs a parlour in Ashok Nagar, said he attends to at least 500 customers a day, with pista, kulfi and mango being the bestselling flavours. “I am expecting an increase in the coming months. They are going to introduce new flavours, and customers, especially children, are waiting to try them,” he added.