If we are sharing the details about local businesses with Greenfield, we can’t overlook Stewart’s Shops, an absolute Upstate New York staple. Stewart’s approximately 350,000-square foot manufacturing, retail distribution and development operations complex is neatly tucked away just within the Town of Greenfield border on 60 acres. It won’t surprise you that Stewart’s Shops is our highest taxpayer, accounting for 3% of our overall tax collection last year.

Greenfield Town Supervisor Kevin Veitch and New York State Assemblyman Matt Simpson (and staff) were lucky enough to receive a personal tour of the plant by none other than President Gary Dake, a third generation Dake who has worked at the company for 38 years. Also worth noting, Dake was a resident of Greenfield for 20 years and served as the chair of the Planning Board.

We wanted to share some of what we saw during the tour, as it was a super-impressive operation that honestly made one leave the facility even more in love with the Stewart’s brand and, well, more than a bit hungry. The plant employs 550 people and it is fascinating to learn how the company’s focus on vertical integration ensures higher quality at a lower cost.  As you’ll see in the photos, we toured the dairy, the ice cream shop, the Stewart’s kitchen and the warehouse. 

We learned that Stewart’s milk is delivered fresh from just 20 large local family farms. We learned that most of the homemade menu items and all of its 60 flavors of ice cream are created in our town. We learned how the massive warehouse allows each of the 357 stores near-perfect precision in ordering the freshest products. We learned of a Plating Room and a Food Lab for testing, just a couple of the many safety and testing procedures in place. In our hairnets and disposable shoe covers, we plodded through room after room of bottle manufacturing and filling rooms, ice-cream making, flavor blenders, cooling rooms and freezers. The kitchen featured on-site preparation of popular menu items like chili, tuna sandwiches and macaroni and cheese. Dake said the prepared foods is a major area of growth opportunity for the company, which is evident in the ever-expanding menu of grab and go and take home dinner options in the local stores.

It is clear this company takes every single part of its business extremely seriously. We met a full-time carpenter, who works with another local Greenfield business Zanetti Architectural Millworks, of 455 Middle Grove Rd., to supply custom craftwork for things like store counters. There is a print shop, an entire division for maintaining, fixing and cleaning appliances (like coffee pots) and a technical team dedicated  to cash registers and other tech at the stores. We learned that every time you purchase a gallon of Stewart’s milk, you can be certain it is fresh. It takes 48 hours for milk to be delivered from the farm, processed, bottled and shipped to your local Stewart’s. The plant is open 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Enjoy our photo gallery and visit the Stewart’s Shops on-line photo factory tour here. Whether you realized it already or not, the Town of Greenfield is home to one of the country’s leading dairy manufacturers and convenience store brands.  Stewart’s is the 23rd largest convenience store chain in the U.S.

This article is meant to inform the residents of Greenfield about local business. The Town of Greenfield does not endorse one business over another. Instead the Town supports all local business and wishes to highlight as many businesses as we can to foster a sense of community and help encourage our residents to shop locally.

If you are a legitimate business or nonprofit organization that is based in our Town, are you listed in our online community directories? If you would like to be added or possibly featured in an upcoming article like this one, please email information to info@greenfieldny.org.