Chas. E. Ramson Limited’s 2020 vision
COVID-19 CREATED challenges in every business across the globe and Chas. E. Ramson was no exception. As fear began to engulf Jamaica, the young executives at Ramson’s were left to run the shop, while the older generation were made to work from home. As the fourth generation stepped up overnight,to lead the company through a major global crisis, the Ramson’s company values were put to the ultimate test. Thankfully, the result was overwhelmingly positive.
“A true test of a manager is how they react in a crisis,” says Phillip Ramson, managing director. “I’m very proud of how Christopher, Kathryn and I worked together during COVID19. It gives me great hope for the future of the company.” The greatest challenge that COVID-19 posed for Ramson’s was one of communication. “Overnight, we had to take all our communication into the virtual space, be that with zoom, webinars or social media,” explains Phillip.
Director of Sales and Marketing, Kathryn Silvera, immediately channelled her marketing efforts into social media forums. “We had to communicate all the information about our products that we usually expressed face-to-face, through online forums, so we got creative.” Kathryn and her team created recipe videos, attractive posts and encouraged consumers to engage with Ramson’s brands virtually.
Chas. E. Ramson adapted to the limited shopping hours in the early days, by offering online specials that could be delivered directly to customers’ homes. One popular special was the ‘Breakfast Box’, which contained pancake mix, oil, Foska Oats and bacon at a special price. They also established ‘promoters’ in openair plazas equipped with packaged, single-serve samples. “If persons felt comfortable, they could approach the promoters and receive flyers with information about the products and take the samples home,” says Kathryn.
In addition to communicating with customers, Ramson’s had to figure out effective ways to communicate with staff, especially at the beginning of the pandemic. A tricky task, considering the amount of fear and anxiety surrounding COVID-19 at the time, when little was known about the virus. “We would hold regular staff sensitisation meetings,” explains Phillip. “We tried to keep the lines of communication open as we considered everyone’s fears and hesitations. We also tried to be reasonable with our expectations.”
“We gave out masks to our staff, created sanitisation stations throughout the office and tried to keep things moving,” explains Christopher Ramson, director of operations. Christopher and Phillip also spent a lot of time strategising. “We looked at individual staff members and made thoughtful decisions about who could work from home.” As an essential service, Chas. E. Ramson did not have the option to close their doors, so instead, they assembled skeleton staff contingency plans for worst-case scenarios.
Ramson’s ability to pivot paid off in the long run. They were able to retain their full staff complement throughout the pandemic and even proceeded with a scheduled salary increase. “It’s a tough time for everyone,” explains Christopher. “The raise was a great show of appreciation and provided job security at a time when our staff needed it most.”
Even though the future is uncertain, the Ramson’s team is feeling more confident than ever that they have what it takes to conquer whatever looms on the horizon.
Even though the future is uncertain, the Ramson’s team is feeling more confident than ever that they have what it takes to conquer whatever looms on the horizon.