The unforeseen and challenging events of 2020 affected all of us globally and individually, but Redlands Ranch Market is grateful to have experienced the truth behind the saying “every cloud has a silver lining” when facing this year’s obstacles.
If we recap 2020 on a global scale, it’s true that it’s been a year of back-to-back, high-priority concerns. One publisher even describes it as a year “full of surprises that no one, not a single one, has ever asked for.” And this statement is equally true as it is frank. From a pandemic prompting a worldwide lockdown for months to protests addressing social, political, and economic matters, we wouldn’t say this year has welcomed the most peace. However, we believe this year hasn’t been an absolute loss — at least not for the marketplace.
Redlands Ranch Market was able to experience several successes despite the world’s struggles by essentially forcing the positivity back into the marketplace. Let’s take a look at some positive things that happened to and for the marketplace this year.
Redlands Ranch Marketplace successes: Marketplace expansions; various events for locals; website makeover
There are three areas of the marketplace on which we’re proud to have successfully focused this year: the international department, the beer cave, and keto-friendly options.
Over the last five years, our team has dedicated a portion of time toward expanding our international inventory. We’re happy to say that in 2020, we were able to designate space on the majority of our shelves to ingredients from around the world. While we started off with South and Central American ingredients, we began to include Middle Eastern, Indian, and Asian foods and have since expanded our international department to spotlight over 10 different regions — including East Africa (Ethiopia), Asia, and Eastern Europe! Our goal was to support our diverse customer base and our love for international foods.
The marketplace was also eager to provide the coldest and widest selection of beer to the community. So, we created a giant refrigerator that would be dedicated to nothing but beer. This “cave” of beer would showcase brews from around the world at cooler than average prices and temperatures.
We also saw a need to expand the number of keto items offered at the marketplace. Since the expansion of our international department, we focused heavily on the voice of the customer. Our website emphasizes that if there’s an international ingredient that isn’t on our shelves, our customers are invited to reach out to us for a product request; this wasn’t limited to our international department. Our team developed an even more attentive ear to customer requests this year and noticed a trend in many customers requesting more keto items. So, we listened. The addition of keto items helped us tap into a new market of grocery and we’re excited to see what other markets we can include, foods we can prepare, and audiences we can attract.
The Redlands Ranch Market team couldn’t be happier with the support our customers have shown to our international department, beer cave, and keto goods! Thank you for a great year of knowledge and growth.
We were also happy to host several fun events this year. We still wanted to show that we appreciate our community even with a pandemic, so we established and adhered to specific guidelines in order to safely and effectively engage with the community. For Mother’s Day, we hosted a raffle with the winner receiving an arrangement of flowers, a cake, and a balloon bouquet as a gift. For Father’s Day, the winner of the raffle received a BBQ grill, cake, and a basket of assorted seasonings.
We were also excited to roast hatch chilis in the front of the market to segue from the end of summer into the start of fall! We wanted customers to experience the spiciest event of the year without having to trek to New Mexico. So, we ordered a giant hatch chili roaster and invited the Redlands community to stop by the marketplace, pick up a 30-pound bag of hatch chilis, and join the local chili party! People were excited to purchase their chili in bulk, have them roasted on-site or taken back home to freeze or can for later use.
One of the final events we hosted to wrap up the year was our Tamale With A Cop, where residents and peace officers joined together to enjoy free tamales, coffee, and conversations. The event motto, “Building relationships, one tamale at a time,” stressed the importance of building relationships around the community, regardless of background, upbringing, culture, and the like. We’ve always believed that everyone in the community plays an important role and we wanted to uphold that belief by bringing the different roles within the community together into one spot. This special collaboration with Redlands PD was established to help to bridge the gap between the protectors and those protected, and we’re happy we were able to contribute.
The marketplace also underwent a website makeover this year! With so many changes happening for and to the marketplace, it only made sense to have our website redesigned to reflect such changes. Not only did we update the format, colors, and text, but we also added some product information for the international department, an updated catering menu, and an option for customers to order some of our Cocina items online.
Future plans for 2021:
Every change we made this year resulted in newer, bigger, and more humbling experiences that motivate us to step outside of our comfort zone. This year has reminded us to pay more attention to the people and world around us and we’ve learned the importance of staying calm under pressure.
As we continue to move forward, the Redlands Ranch Market team is excited to see what the new year brings us. Talk about expanding our keto items to even more delicious baked goods, savory to-go meals, and specialty keto products are increasing. And, depending on the economy, we’re hoping to put our catering services and latest party packages to more use as restrictions are lifted, health is increasing, and people begin to gather in groups again.
Our presence on social media is also taking on a new personality — both literally and figuratively. This year we focused on posting more often, paying attention to what our followers are interested in based on their engagement levels, and building a tone that is equally fresh as it is informative for the RRM business and brand. Our goal to attract an audience beyond the Inland Empire and Southern California means revamping and upping our social media marketing. So, be on the lookout for potential Influencer collaboration and more events. Until then, we thank all of our supporters again for a successful 2020! Despite the obstacles, Redlands Ranch Market is proud to say that we’re looking forward to another year of serving each and every one of you.
DETAILS ON REDLANDS RANCH MARKET’S 2020 VENTURES:
- Why We Expanded Our International Products
- Looking for International Products? Browse Our International Department:
- Delicious Keto Pumpkin Pie To-Go — Get Yours this Thanksgiving
- Buy Authentic, Natural, and Ready-To-Eat Keto Meals Today
- Giant Beer Cave Offers the Coldest Beer in Town!
- Buy Homemade Tortillas From Our Tortilleria & Homemade Tamales During the Holidays!
- We Roast Hatch Chiles Each Summer…Get Your 30-lb Bag
- Did You Attend? Free Tamales, Coffee, & Convos with Redlands Peace Officers