Enjoying hobbies while identifying opportunities is something Eric Rahlfs is good at. When the father of three isn’t giving financial advice, you’ll likely find him at home editing, planning, or shooting footage for Café REALM, his content creation front as a Blackstone Griddle Crew Ambassador. Rahlfs has also served as an ambassador for pickleball brand names. He was at Kiwanis in Carmi Thursday to talk about the journey. It started in 2020 during CoViD when Rahlfs says he just wanted to come home from work and start cooking rather than having to take the time to prep a meal and also have to prep a charcoal grill prompting him to look at other options.
Blackstones became really popular around that time. So I bought my first griddle, it was a 28” Pro Series griddle straight off the Blackstone website.
After enjoying his first meal, a breakfast cooked on the Blackstone and experimenting with his new cooking device, further inspiration came from a family member.
My brother, he kind of has a weekly cook thing that he does and it got me inspired to do my own thing…just take pictures and post on facebook so that’s how that started. And then I realized he had a weekly cook so he’s been my inspiration for everything surrounding Café REALM and Flat Iron Fridays, Smokin Sunday.
In August 2024, Eric took the opportunity to look into the Blackstone Ambassador program and he was chosen to join the company’s Griddle Crew. As a part of the team, Rahlfs is one of a select group who help promote the Blackstone brand by developing social media strategies, creating content, and representing the brand. For Rahlfs, it’s an opportunity to work with others who love doing what he’s doing, learning new techniques and recipes, and trying out new products direct from the company at a discount.
The Griddle Crew started just about 4 years ago as the company is still in growth mode and the number of ambassadors is ballooning as well.
As far as numbers, the Griddle Crew started in 2021 with about 15 members and now there are 96 members in the Blackstone Griddle Crew. 28 different states, 3 countries, the US, Canda, and the UK.
Being part of the crew means they get challenges, one of which was to recreate or copycat a recipe. Rahlfs chose to create his own Sunrise Chipotle Croissant made popular by the local 103 Grounded in Grace coffeeshop.
You can follow Café REALM on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564959252691
https://www.instagram.com/cafe_realm/
https://www.tiktok.com/@caferealm
Next week at Kiwanis, the Carmi civic organization welcomes Keith Davis to preview the St. Jude Putt Pub Crawl.
