In Norwalk, Stew’s Grandchildren Envisioning ‘What We Could Become’

It’s a familiar refrain on tri-state area airwaves — Stew Leonard Jr. chuckling “I’m coming over” to the gatherings of customers uncorking Stew Leonard’s wines. And that refrain has become a chorus of late, with Blake Leonard piping up in unison alongside her dad’s gravelly growl in a new set of radio ads heading into the 2016 holiday season.

Entering July, Blake Leonard became a Stew Leonard’s wine marketing manager, becoming the second full-time member of the family business’ third generation to take a managerial role after her cousin Jake Tavello, who is a store director in Danbury.

Founded in 1969 as a Norwalk dairy store by Stew Leonard Sr. and then expanding under Stew Leonard Jr.’s stewardship, Stew Leonard’s is now years into a process in which it is prepping a third generation to run the company in an industry being turned on its end by any number of trends, including formidable competition from big warehouse clubs and smaller specialty stores touting their roots in regional food production.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: Connecticut Post