Pattice: ice cream with a spin

Pattice is a popular local homemade ice cream business that does things a bit differently. Unlike how we usually get our ice creams, like on cones and in cups, theirs come in 'patties'; imagine our usual 'juice patties', but with yummy ice cream instead of frozen juice.

We recently had a chat with Pattice co-founder Malha Rasheed. So, keep reading to find out more about Mal and her business.

Lonumedhu: How did you get the idea of making ice cream 'patties'?

Mal: I was back in Addu, and my family had made something called ice cream 'juice patty'. After tasting that I thought I’d try to turn it into ice cream. Pattice was born from this idea. We use all the ingredients required for ice cream making, but in a way that the ice cream can be contained in a 'juice patty' bag. It’s a convenient way to eat ice cream actually.

Lonumedhu: And how did this idea become a business?

Mal: My business partner Shau (Shaudhath Solih) and I, she’s as much Pattice as I am, we were making ice cream patties at home and had decided to go into business before the lockdown started in March last year. And even with the lockdown, we decided to continue with the plan.

Lonumedhu: How did you guys learn to make ice cream?

Mal: We just experimented with different ratios and flavours. Some of our flavours took as long as a month to develop because in addition to having no knowledge of making ice cream, the Internet wasn’t that helpful too because we wanted to create the unique 'juice patty' consistency. I think we finally have the hang of it now. After 2 seconds our ice cream 'patties' start melting in a good way and even when you get to the last sip, you won’t get flavourless ice like you would with 'juice patties'; it’s completely like ice cream.

Lonumedhu: Tell us about the flavours. What are the most popular?

Mal: We’ve so far made 8 flavours but normally we have 6 flavours available. That’s because the other two need ingredients that we can’t get from Male’. From all our flavours I think blue berry is the most popular. Banana is a newer flavour and that’s quite popular too.

Lonumedhu: It must be tough getting ingredients from Male’, especially during lockdown.

Mal: It is. But I have to go to Dubai for regular check-ups so I just get the ingredients from there and bring them with me when I come back.

Lonumedhu: We’ve read about your battle with cancer and think you are very strong to keep doing what you are doing. How do you balance your personal life with your business? Especially while dealing with something like that.

Mal: With a lot of help from my family as well as my business partner. I started Pattice when I finished my studies and for me it gives me something to wake up to everyday, like a purpose. I don’t put anything above Pattice and give it hundred percent of my attention.

Lonumedhu: So how do you and your partner split the roles?

Mal: We take care of the ice cream making process and everything else together, but I take care of the social media. I studied mass communication from Malaysia so that’s right up my alley.

Lonumedhu: How would you describe the journey so far?

Mal: It has been unimaginably good. We started by selling the patties just to our family. Me and Shau, we are married to brothers from the same family and our family is huge with around 30 members. So initially we had a lot of support from them, and later with some social media traction, our customers grew month by month and now we have a sizeable customer base. At first it was just Shau and I making the ice cream and our husbands doing the deliveries too. But now we have help.

Lonumedhu: Apart from deliveries, your ice cream is available from some shops too right?

Mal: Yes you can get them from three shops. Two in Male’ and one in Hulhumale’.

Lonumedhu: We’ve reached the end of our interview. Let’s wrap it up by talking about the future. Are there any plans you could share with us?  

Mal: We are opening a Pattice café in Male’. It’s going to be like an ice cream parlour and we’ll be starting with soft serve ice cream.

Lonumedhu: That’s great news! Looking forward to the Pattice café’ and we wish you all the best.