This week we headed to Connecticut for a tour of the famous Stew Leonard Supermarkets known for fresh products and great customer service, to learn more about easy meal options that families can use during the busy back to school season and beyond.

Note: I was invited as media to this event and received a gift bag. However, any personal views expressed are always 100% my own.

To start the tour, our group met with Stew Leonard Jr. and his family. It was awesome to see and speak with real life family who are behind the Stew Leonard Supermarkets brand.


I also learned how Stew Leonard Jr and his family connects with the community. After the loss of their 21-month old son in a drowning accident in 1989, the Leonard's formed a foundation in their son's name, which has raised more than one million dollars to fund swim scholarships and purchase water safety equipment.

In 2002, the Leonard's wrote a story book aimed at reaching children directly with important water safety messages. Stewie the Duck learns is used in water safety courses throughout the country. More than 40,000 books have been sold, with all proceeds from going to water safety programs and providing swimming lesson scholarships.


Our tour started at the warehouse to learn how the products come into the store. We also heard from store employees who's worked for Stew Leonard Supermarkets for years. That was nice to meet some of the people who work in the store on a daily basis.


Then our tour took us in store to see some of the products and services offered to customers. One of things Stew Leonard Supermarkets are known for is having fresh food products. They either get many items in store daily or make it themselves.


Stew Leonard Supermarkets also offers way to families can shop and check out quickly. I love the idea of quick deli ordering to avoid waiting on crazy long line!


For families concerned about hormones and other addin, there's the Stew Leonard’s Naked® brand line, which includes Naked Beef, Naked Chicken, Naked Salmon, Naked Pork and Naked Hot Dogs & Chicken Sausage containing no antibiotics, added hormones or preservatives, and are also raised and harvested humanely. Naked Beef and Chicken are Pesticide Residue Free


Another thing Stew Leonard Supermarkets is know for is their animatronics throughout the stores. Young (and older kids) will be entertained by the various characters and songs played at scheduled times all round the store.


After such an informative tour, Stew Leonard Jr treated the group to lunch. Kids enjoyed some crafting activities as parents sampled sandwiches, salads and more made with Stew Leonard products.


Before heading back to NYC, we spent some time outside the petting zoo. We didn't get to meet the animals but we enjoyed saying hello and learning a bit about them. Maybe next time we visit we can do more.

We had a great day learning about Stew Leonard Supermarkets!

To learn more about Stew Leonard’s, visit - www.stewleonards.com