Hope
December 31, 2021
As I sit here with New Year fast approaching, I am struck by how much has transpired this past year. The year began with cautious optimism as the pandemic seemed to be slowing. The success of vaccines and promise of wide-spread availability fueled our hopes that a return to “normalcy” was not far away. Farmers markets continue to operate following Illinois guidelines and social distancing and was a pleasure to be there for our customers looking for our products. As always it was great to meet you and we were thrilled to hear how our products had become a part of your everyday meals. As our customer, Francie, emailed “Love your dressing. I am so grateful to finally find a sauce, dressing that is made without sugar. Thank you so much.”! Equally rewarding was to hear parents say that their kids were excited to put our dressing on everything! A dipping sauce for their nuggets and even willing to eat their veggies covered in our dressing. 😊 Just unforgettable moments!
All your exciting and insightful feedback has only motivated us to create and develop new versions. We started offering the Ginger Spread in a mild flavor to satisfy all your taste buds and it has found itself a loyal following. We even experienced that exhilarated feeling when you helped us sell out! Undoubtedly, you, our customers, are our brand ambassadors! I am truly in gratitude of the various farmers markets as they have led to invaluable connections and constantly refuel my passion for the business.
As our awareness and business grew, we found it difficult to be at multiple markets. Some of our loyal consumers had to go outside their communities to find us and suggested we consider offering our products through local stores. A BIG step that raised trepidation in my mind. As I was contemplating this step, I remember coming across this quote… “Do one thing every day that scare you” – Eleanor Roosevelt. While scary, I realized this step was an important one to ensure our products were easily accessible to all our consumers. To ensure that you always have a wonderful experience buying our products, we have chosen to be very selective and only work with local stores. All the stores are within Illinois, and we appreciate the help and support we have received from their produce and store managers. Of course, we also continue to work on our website to make it more informative and educational. In addition, we continue to focus on improving the shopping experience should you choose to buy on our site. Please do check out the website to see all the recent changes and new recipes.
As exciting it was to see our business continue to grow, we struggled much like everyone else with supply challenges. None of us are strangers to empty shelves or raising prices and neither were we immune to these difficulties. Being a small business magnifies these issues as suppliers focus their energies on supporting their bigger customers. But through all these shortages we remained committed to filling each bottle with only quality ingredients. Through all the increasing costs we kept the same attention on production and filling each bottle with love. As always, we passionately strive to be fair in our pricing. Thank you for your continued support.
Looking back, it has been a hectic year – exciting, challenging, scary and yet rewarding. With the omicron variant on the rise, we are clearly still grappling with the pandemic. I am however hopeful that we have all found our own approach to navigating this new normal and continue to thrive. That for sure raises my spirits and fills me with hope as I spend the holidays with my family.
I wish you all the best for the new year. Enjoy and spread Hope!
Nalini