Dustin McCance was only thirteen years old when he saw the potential of his father Rick’s salsa recipe. At that young age, he made it his mission to bring Rick’s Salsa to market. With McCance handling all business operations with an initial investment from his grandfather Richard McCance Sr. in 2014 his journey into retail began. While pursuing grocery retailer Sprouts, McCance stumbled across RangeMe and signed up for Premium, and got RangeMe Verified. In doing so, not only did he unlock the full possibilities of RangeMe, this move also ultimately scored Rick’s Salsa a hot deal with the largest retailer in the world.
It runs in the family
The McCance family’s cherished salsa recipe was created nearly twenty years ago by Dustin’s dad, Rick. And for the past two decades, “Rick’s Salsa” has been a staple at the McCance family and friend parties. Its ingredients are as simple and wholesome as the name itself, and the salsa is made from clean and natural ingredients, with a foundation of fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, combined with their signature spice blend.
The salsa line has expanded its flavor offering from Intense Heat Habanero to Hatch Green Chile salsa verde. The company also recently introduced its Awesome Sauce, made from seven simple and delicious ingredients that make for the perfect sauce for just about anything.
The future is RangeMe
McCance wanted to be strategic in how he would bring Rick’s Salsa to market. He worked on getting Rick’s Salsa into local grocers in Texas where he knew the demand for their product was high. They decided to navigate the waters of distribution and built a good relationship with a co-packer which allowed them to quickly grow into the surrounding Texas market.
When McCance decided it was time to reach out to the larger retailers, he stumbled across RangeMe while cold calling Sprouts. A Sprout’s buyer told them he had to submit their product through RangeMe.
“I was used to cold calling and showing up at retailers’ headquarters to share my product with buyers,” McCance says. “When the Sprouts buyer suggested I submit through RangeMe, I had never heard of it before. When I signed up I knew this was the future. It is a new and more efficient way to reach buyers. After I submitted to Sprouts, I decided to stay on the platform for the accessibility and visibility we had with buyers.”
The secret sauce of Industry Insights
“I see RangeMe as a digital platform that is able to share insights on where Suppliers can improve their business to better attract buyers from a number of retailers,” says McCance.
For example, after checking Industry Insights McCance saw that “Keto” was trending in his product category. Considering their avocado oil-based Awesome Sauce was keto-friendly, he used the opportunity to highlight the keto component of their new line resulting in more buyer views on his Awesome Sauce products.
Heating things up through RangeMe
McCance took the game-changing step of signing up for RangeMe Premium and getting RangeMe Verified to show retailers he was prepared for retail. Shortly after doing so he received an exciting message on RangeMe from a retail associate requesting samples of their salsas. Three months later that person asked him if he would be interested in being sold in the largest retailer in the world. Within nine months Rick’s Salsa went live across 540 stores.
“The process of getting connected was super easy since they approached us, but bringing our local product into such a large retailer was a huge learning experience,” McCance says. ‘I learned a lot in regards to what a national retailer expects from brands in order to be successful. Now we feel fully prepared and ready to take on other big retailers.”
Getting into such a large retailer so fast was unexpected, but McCance knew that it was part of their ultimate goal of becoming a national brand. And being a part of this major retail chain’s product lineup was a huge leap that would certainly help them get into other big box stores.
The next move
In addition to their salsa line being picked up by the world’s largest retailer, Rick’s Salsa’s Awesome Sauce was recently picked up by Whole Foods Market and is performing well with the potential to expand into more regions.
After their success, Rick’s Salsa is excited to incorporate more of RangeMe into their everyday business practices and continue taking advantage of Industry Insights to help keep them on what is already a successful path.
Increase your buyer visibility by getting RangeMe Verified. Check out what you need to get Verified here.
Not on RangeMe yet? Sign up for your free account here.