Ring Bros. Marketplace got its start 100 years ago, when teenager Stephen Ring Sr. and his older brother, Edmund, sold produce from a horse-drawn wagon on the streets of Boston. Later, Stephen Sr. would take his sons, Ed and Stephen Jr., along to help. The sons eventually made the business their life’s work, like their father.
Today, their store – Ring Bros. Marketplace – operates in South Dennis, in the heart of Cape Cod, off the southeastern coast of Massachusetts. The island’s year-round residents are joined by a large number of tourists during the summer months who come to enjoy the beaches and rich history in the area.
Ed Ring, 75, continues to run the business – which also operates a wholesale division – as president. He responded to questions from The Griffin Report’s Lorrie Griffith.
Can you briefly walk me through your family’s history with the store and how the store has changed over the years? How are you celebrating your 100th?
My father was a fruit peddler on a horse-and-wagon in Salem and Beverly starting in 1925. He worked with my uncle, who was 15 years older than him.
I joined him in the 1950s on his peddling truck on the streets of Malden and Everett, and then we ran a fruit stand in Salem every Saturday through the 1950s and 1960s. At the suggestion of a wonderful mentor, Jim Cerretani, who I worked for in the offseason, I opened a store on Cape Cod in West Harwich in 1972.
In the early 1990s, my wife and I went on a trip to France and got an idea to open a store with individual business owners collaborating under one roof. We thought it would be great to bring the best of everything – produce, meat, fish, baked goods – to a single location for consumers. We opened Broadway Marketplace in Cambridge in collaboration with business owner Charlie Bougas, which we ran for 20-plus years until my brother Steve retired.
Then in the early 2000s, I opened our current store in South Dennis with my son Patrick, my wife Susan [who is CFO], and local business owners who shared the vision of a collaborative store. Now Patrick runs the operation with myself, Susan and my two daughters, Jillian and Kristin.
We are undergoing a rebranding to mark 100 years in business. We have a two-year plan for the rebranding. First, we’ve had a year-long project where we updated the logo systems, icon, typography, patterns and colors across retail and wholesale. We took elements from the original signage and created a brand that represents our history, culture and mission.
Starting with wholesale, we have already updated our trucks, uniforms, website and internal collateral. Beginning in the fall, we will begin the revamp for retail and will be completed by (hopefully) next spring with updates to the signage, private label, uniforms, etc. Shoutout to the super-talented Michael Shaughnessy, creative director, for collaborating on this project with us.
Please describe Ring Bros. Marketplace – store size, décor, departments, team members, checkout experience.
My son, Patrick, and I have been to so many seminars and expos around the country, and we’ve determined that our focus should be that our store should be alive.
The store is an experience, not a destination. We sell this with high-quality food, music, TVs, cleanliness and friendly, helpful team members. There are seven individual businesses in our 18,000-square-foot store: Ring Bros. Markets, Chatham Fish and Lobster, Dark Horse Beef and Deli, Hissho Sushi, Nata’s Cake and Cookhouse, Portside Liquors, and Spinners Pizza and Burritos.
We are competing with a multi-billion-dollar company across the street, so we need to be different. When you walk into our store, we want you to be happy because you’re there, not feel the drudgery of shopping. All seven individual business owners are there, generally behind the counter most days.
My job at 75 years old, part-time work, 40 hours a week, is talking to people all day long on the floor. I know almost every customer. I genuinely enjoy my work. I actually feel like I’ve never worked a day in my life, and I’ll continue to do so.
As you mentioned, fresh food is a major focus at Ring Bros. What items/departments would you say your store is best known for?
I’ll just go around the store…
We have exceptional new owners at Nata’s Cake and Cookhouse at the prepared food area and bakery. It’s not just food to go but an accomplished chef cooking real meals every day.
Chatham Fish and Lobster, owned by Mac’s Seafood, provides fresh-caught fish.
Dark Horse Beef and Deli provides fresh meats. There’s a long line at the counter every day.
The store also has a fresh juice and smoothie bar, where we use all fresh ingredients. Every morning you’ll see 15-20 people lined up at the juice bar.
We also have delicious, freshly made pizza from Spinners. People love their pizza, and it’s a real draw during lunchtime in addition to Hissho Sushi, which makes sushi fresh in the store every day.
We also have Portside Liquors. They have revitalized the whole beer and wine selection.
We’ve also created Doorstep Service, our home delivery service. Home delivery sales are increasing 10-20 percent a year because we’re doing more with menus, catering and special occasions; it’s beyond just basic grocery delivery.
Seven small businesses working together have a great advantage in the marketplace. We can move on our feet, make quick group decisions without corporate red tape. For instance, we have popular fall and spring food festivals where local vendors promote their products. For three hours, the parking lot is packed, and the community tells us they really enjoy it.
Local food products also look to be a strong emphasis for your stores. Talk about the importance of offering those products to your customers and your community.
Much of our product selection is locally grown or produced. We work with local vendors whenever possible and label products made in Massachusetts. Customers are always looking for local products. We bring in produce from local farmers: lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, peaches, apples, corn. We’ve built relationships with vendors over the last 40 years.
We think it’s extremely important to support the local economy, to support local businesses and families, and to source sustainably. Plus, local flavor makes our store an exciting and unique place to shop.
Tell me about your customer base. How do the area’s demographics influence your store offerings?
Our customer base is basically foodies, people that love food and cooking. In the summertime, there are many visitors from Boston, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and around the world. There are questions from customers all day, like “Do you have red quinoa?” “Do you have a certain kind of pasta?” “Do you have this certain kind of spice?” “Do you have dried mushrooms?” “Do you have dried ancho chili peppers?”
There are questions about all kinds of different produce and grocery items. We bring all of it in so that we can be different. And people love it. Everything we sell is fresh, not pre-packaged. For example, our fresh fruit cups and bowls are cut fresh right in the middle of the store. And then our customers grab them with confidence; they know it’s going to be nice and fresh. Again, this is how we differentiate ourselves from supermarkets.
Being in a vacation destination, what impact does tourist season have on your operations?
The biggest challenge, I would say, is to staff up quickly. You need to get everybody trained up within a week or two. Business triples within three to four weeks, so everybody has to be ready on the front end. Everybody has to be ready in the departments. Then, before we know it, Labor Day comes, and the rush is over.
But after doing it for a lot of years, you know the drill. And you get the people trained up and get them to a faster pace. That’s the most challenging.
And perhaps related to that, how do you deliver on customer service? How many team members do you have?
The entire Ring Bros. business, including wholesale, has about 150 to 200 employees. Ring Bros. Marketplace itself has about 85 employees in the peak season.
In terms of customer service, I and the other business owners are right on the store floor all the time, and we talk to people all day long. We work hard to connect people with food and to build relationships with customers and the community.
People ask all the time – how do you cook this? What is that used for? We have recipes available at the front end of the store. We get compliments one after another about how friendly and helpful our employees are. That’s the culture we’re working to build.
How do you support the community?
We are local businesses; we all live on Cape Cod, we know Cape Cod, and most employees live on Cape Cod. And at this point in my life, it gets a lot more fun to give than receive.
We are so grateful to be part of such a supportive and vibrant community. We are eager to give back and make a difference. Ring Bros. Marketplace supports Cape Kids Meals, Dennis-Yarmouth youth sports, the Cape and Islands K-9 Relief Fund, Sunshine Kids and the Atlantic White Shark Conservatory.
What are the joys and challenges of working in a family-owned business?
It is a joy to see my family every day. I am so lucky to be involved with them all. I get to travel to all the specialty food shows with my son, Patrick. We use that time to communicate and strategize.
It’s amazing to have camaraderie with my wife, Susan, who manages the finances. It’s been a joy to build the business with Patrick and Susan. I feel so connected to my dad, who started the business 100 years ago, and now my son Patrick and daughters Jillian and Kristin are carrying it on. Even the next generation – my grandson Max – worked last summer.
The fresh food business is so much work; you’re always thinking about it and you never really have a day off, but I love my work. And I feel like I’ve never worked a day in my life. I still love what I do.
Tell me about your wholesale division – what you supply, who you supply, its importance to the overall enterprise.
Ring Bros. Wholesale supplies about 300 restaurants, resorts and specialty stores on Cape Cod and in southeastern Massachusetts with fresh produce, dairy and specialty foods.
Wholesale makes up 50-60 percent of sales. Rich Mulcahy is the general manager of Ring Bros. Wholesale. He joined the company in the 1980s and has built the business to where it is today.
The wholesale division helps us keep product moving quickly so everything is always fresh. My dad and I did all of the produce buying for years, but now Steve Cerretani, son of Jim Cerretani, buys for us. We have worked with him for years and he knows exactly what we want and how we want it.
During COVID, it was important that our company was diversified – we weren’t just a retail store or a wholesale company and didn’t just sell to restaurants. The local specialty stores were doing great business during COVID, and we were grateful to be working with them.
We have invested in a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and online ordering system this year for our wholesale division, alongside a new online ordering app to streamline operations and enhance customer service. The ERP system integrates core business functions, such as inventory management, accounting and order processing, into a centralized platform, improving efficiency and data accuracy.
The online ordering app provides chefs with mobile ordering and real-time access to product information and pricing, simplifying the purchasing process. This digital transformation will enable Ring Bros. to modernize its wholesale operations, reduce manual errors and better serve its growing customer base.
I was told that you knew John Griffin, who founded The Griffin Report. Any stories to share?
John Griffin was a great guy and was a special friend of mine. He was in our original Harwich store daily for 15 years because he had a home right down the street. We often ate out together, sharing stories of the industry.
He would chat with me about his “Nothing Personal” column, which covered the food industry. We used to have some great times together. After my dad died, he became a mentor of mine. I would talk to him about any business-related issues I was having over at the Harwich store, and he would say, about 10 times a week, “Move on. Get over it. Move on.” John helped me get through some tough times.
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