Foodie friendship between Stew Leonard and Martha Stewart
STEW LEONARD RECALLS 50- YEAR FRIENDSHIP WITH MARTHA STEWART
Stew Leonard Jr. was just a kid working in his dad’s grocery store in 1971. It was the best place for him to be as a 16year- old, learning the ropes to someday take over the family business.
The Norwalk store was bustling one day when Stew Leonard Sr. called his son over to the cash registers. A woman with two cart loads of groceries needed to get everything out to her car.
Back in those days, she was just a caterer with a long grocery list. Now, she’s internationally known for a whole host of lifestyle brands.
So that’s how a Connecticut grocer came to be friends with Martha Stewart.
“I was a kid in the store stocking shelves, and of course, my father was always super nice to her because she had not just one full shopping cart, but two,” Stew Leonard Jr. said.
“So he would always call me over and say ‘ hey Stew, here’s a great customer, go help her with her shopping carts out to her car,’ and obviously since we have both had food in our lives, we’ve always just stayed friends.”
“She’s always been a great supporter to the store and I’m a huge supporter and fan of hers. When we talk together, she gets so excited about any food item. She loves trending stuff.”
While Stewart started shopping at Stew Leonard’s 50 years ago for her catering business, she now sells products at the store, like her cookbooks and a new series of coffee pods.
“She lived in Westport, Connecticut, for years and would shop at the store, and then also we do great cookbook signings for her here at the store,” Leonard Jr. said. “She’s been over to my parents’ house. We had her over one afternoon and we just sat out and had wine and cheese.”
Last May, Leonard Jr. made a trip to Stewart’s estate in New York where he personally dropped off her grocery delivery. The lifestyle icon made an Instagram post about the visit.
“SHE’S ALWAYS BEEN A GREAT SUPPORTER TO THE STORE AND I’M A HUGE SUPPORTER AND FAN OF HERS. WHEN WE TALK TOGETHER, SHE GETS SO EXCITED ABOUT ANY FOOD ITEM. SHE LOVES TRENDING STUFF.”
“It was nice to see him, to offer him an espresso, and to receive such gifts for Mother’s Day!!! the fish was so so fresh and delicious! We had the scallops last night!” Stewart wrote in the post.
And Stewart isn’t the only celebrity to grace the hallowed aisles of Stew Leonard’s.
“Paul Newman lived here too,” Leonard said. “We were good friends with him.”
Leonard Sr. was the person who first set Newman up with a packaging company for the now widespread “Newman’s Own” salad dressing.
According to Leonard Jr., Newman wanted to package some bottles of dressing to send to his friends, but packing companies would only take orders with a minimum of 2,000 bottles. When Newman lamented to Leonard that he didn’t need 2,000 bottles just for his friends, Leonard offered to sell the remaining bottles in his store.
“We took the rest of it and brought it over and built a big display and, of course, put a big picture of Paul Newman up, and it went like crazy,” Leonard Jr. said. “And, obviously, the rest is history.”
“He’d have a luncheon every year for all of his suppliers and friends to thank them for what they did with Newman’s Own, and Martha Stewart would be there and he’d always put us at the same table as Martha Stewart because he knew we knew her.”
There are now seven Stew Leonard’s locations, spanning Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. And if Stewart ever needs to stop by for two carts full of groceries, Leonard is more than happy to help her out to her car.