Here's What You Need to Know About Stonewall Kitchen Foods at Whole Foods
With a passion for creating high quality, artisanal foods, Maine-based Stonewall Kitchen has built an enthusiastic following since its founding in 1991. From fruit spreads and savory condiments to oils and baking mixes, Stonewall Kitchen emphasizes the use of premium, natural ingredients in its small-batch specialties. This dedication to quality has made it a perfect fit for natural foods retailer Whole Foods Market. In 2003, the two companies began a partnership to sell Stonewall Kitchen products in Whole Foods stores nationwide, introducing the brand to new audiences hungry for a taste.
Let's explore some of Stonewall Kitchen's signature offerings now available at your local Whole Foods and why this partnership has been so successful for the two brands.
Stonewall Kitchen's Specialty Food Offerings
The Stonewall Kitchen selection at Whole Foods focuses on the company's bestselling jams and sauces as well as its growing line of artisanal baking mixes, oils, and sweets. Shoppers can find many of Stonewall Kitchen's standout products on Whole Foods shelves.
Fruit Spreads
Stonewall Kitchen is perhaps best known for its fruit spreads like jams, jellies, and marmalades. They offer over 55 flavors including unique varieties like peach amaretto and lavender blueberry. Using ripe, peak-season fruit, Stonewall Kitchen crafts fruit spreads with a bright, fresh taste. You'll also find fruit butters, lemon curds, and pumpkin butter during the fall.
Savory Items
In addition to fruit spreads, Stonewall Kitchen creates award-winning savory products like mustard, chutneys, salsas, and salad dressings. Their distinctive flavors incorporate ingredients like balsamic vinegar, Vermont maple syrup, and lemon. Especially popular are Stonewall Kitchen's unique infused olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars, which make flavorful additions to salads, pastas, and more.
Baking Mixes and Sweet Treats
Satisfy your sweet tooth with Stonewall Kitchen's line of baking mixes, dessert sauces, and sweets. Their easy pancake and muffin mixes simply require adding a few basic ingredients like milk and eggs. They also offer cookie mixes, cake mixes, quick breads, and cornbread with mouthwatering flavors like chocolate chunk and cinnamon swirl. You can even buy ready-to-eat whoopie pies, cookies, and other desserts for a special treat.
Oils, Vinegars, and Condiments
Rounding out Stonewall Kitchen's offerings are pantry staples like olive oil, balsamic vinegar, spices, and seasoning blends. Their collection of infused and flavored extra virgin olive oils adds flavor to dips, dressings, marinades, and more. They also carry sea salt, pepper mill sets, and herb blends. You're sure to find versatile condiments to stock your fridge and pantry.
Why the Partnership Works: Shared Values
From the beginning, Whole Foods Market and Stonewall Kitchen discovered they had complementary philosophies about food quality, production, and service. This shared commitment continues to make their partnership thrive.
Quality Ingredients
Both Stonewall Kitchen and Whole Foods go to great lengths to source high quality, premium ingredients. Products at Whole Foods must meet the retailer's stringent standards about being natural, minimally processed, and free of artificial additives. Stonewall Kitchen adheres to similar principles, emphasizing real, ripe fruit along with organic herbs, spices, oils, and more.
Artisanal Production
In keeping with their commitment to quality, neither Stonewall Kitchen nor Whole Foods produce their food offerings via mass production. Instead, Stonewall Kitchen makes its products in smaller batches for greater quality control. Whole Foods focuses on bringing in items from smaller specialty producers, not major corporations. This dedication to crafting food with care unites the two brands.
Customer Service
Providing education and an exceptional shopping experience are priorities for Whole Foods. Similarly, Stonewall Kitchen strives to share cooking tips and build relationships with customers. Both pay close attention to consumer preferences and food trends to cater to customer needs. Their high bar for customer satisfaction and product innovation drives success.
The Benefits for Both Brands
The Stonewall Kitchen and Whole Foods collaboration has produced major benefits for both companies over the years. It's been a recipe for growth and alignment.
Increased Distribution and Sales for Stonewall Kitchen
Partnering with Whole Foods gave Stonewall Kitchen access to new markets and customers through the grocery giant's 400+ locations around the country. Before the partnership, Stonewall Kitchen was primarily a regional Northeast brand. Whole Foods helped introduce a national audience to its specialty food offerings and fueled its expansion.
Unique Product Range for Whole Foods
For Whole Foods, bringing in Stonewall Kitchen allowed the retailer to expand and enhance its selection of gourmet, artisanal foods. While Whole Foods had a few jams and oils, Stonewall Kitchen offered an entire range of high quality, distinctive products the store had been lacking. This valuable point of differentiation attracted new customers seeking premium specialty foods.
Shared Commitment to Natural Products
Together, Stonewall Kitchen and Whole Foods advanced their mission of providing customers with real, wholesome foods produced sustainably and ethically. Showcasing Stonewall Kitchen items strengthened Whole Foods’ reputation as America’s healthiest grocery store while also boosting the brand’s image. The partnership enhanced both of their brands in shoppers’ minds.
Shop Stonewall Kitchen Items at Your Local Whole Foods
Next time you visit Whole Foods, look for the distinctive Stonewall Kitchen labels to find their jams, baking mixes, sauces, and more. Here are some tips to guide your Stonewall Kitchen shopping adventure.
What You Can Find In-Store
Whole Foods carries a wide selection of Stonewall Kitchen's jellies and jams, condiments and dressings, baking mixes and batters, dessert sauces and toppings, spices and seasoning blends, oils and vinegars, and other specialty foods. Popular picks are their blueberry lemon jam, lemongrass ginger dressing, and pumpkin pancake mix.
Tasting Events
Take advantage of in-store tastings to sample Stonewall Kitchen's foods like their cinnamon apple jam and maple balsamic dressing. Tasting lets you experience the flavors before you buy.
Customer Recommendations
Ask fellow shoppers and Whole Foods team members for tips on their favorite Stonewall Kitchen items. Top recommendations include the strawberry jalapeño jam, white balsamic peach vinaigrette, and chocolate chunk cookie mix.
Special Offers
Look for seasonal promotions and discounts on select Stonewall Kitchen products. Whole Foods may offer deals on spreads and dressings for summer entertaining or baking mixes for the holidays.
With its small-batch jams, savory sauces, baking mixes, and more, Stonewall Kitchen brings high quality, artisanal specialty foods to Whole Foods' shelves. The two companies share core values about premium ingredients, customer service, and sustainable production. Together they offer shoppers a flavorful food experience focused on taste and quality. Next time you're looking to make an easy weeknight meal, bake up something sweet, or find a unique hostess gift, explore the offerings from Stonewall Kitchen at your local Whole Foods.