Stewart’s Shops for the second consecutive year has the best milk in New York State as judged by the Cornell University Department of Food Science.
The Ballston Spa, New-York based convenience-store chain’s flavored milk and ice cream also earned top honors at the New York State Fair in Syracuse on Dairy Day Aug. 31.
To celebrate these awards, Stewart’s Shops will once again give customers double punches on their Milk Club Cards until Sept. 10. For every half gallon of Stewart’s milk, juice or Refresher purchased, customers get two punches on their card or four punches for every gallon. After 10 punches, customers get a free half gallon or half off the price of a gallon of Stewart’s milk, juice and Refreshers.
Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences partners with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets to assess the quality, safety and sensory taste of New York’s innovative dairy products, Stewart’s Shops said. This recognition is part of Cornell’s New York State Milk Quality Improvement Program.
- Stewart's Shops is No. 23 on CSP’s 2023 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by number of company-owned retail outlets.
The best milk award is based on scores generated through Cornell’s Voluntary Shelf-Life (VSL) Program. Under this program, each New York State processing plant is visited and sampled at least two times each year. Milk samples are judged based on microbial analyses, fat determination, freezing point and flavor.
In addition to best milk, Stewart’s Shops also earned first place in the Flavored Milk category.
“Stewart’s Shops has an extensive line of flavored milk and dairy drinks, all made with their fresh and local milk,” Stewart’s Shops said. “You can enjoy flavors like strawberry milk, cappuccino milk, classic chocolate and peanut butter chocolate flavored milks. To keep it fresh, Stewart’s also offers rotational flavors throughout the year like their popular mint flavored Shenanigan Shake or their brand-new Cookies & Cream Dairy Shake.”
Ice Cream Addition
The New York State Fair incorporated ice cream categories this year, and Stewart’s Shops took home blue ribbons:
- The c-store chain’s chocolate ice cream won Best Chocolate Ice Cream. This category included all chocolate flavored ice creams with no inclusions or variegates to be judged.
- In the Best Open Class Ice Cream category, which included all flavors of ice cream other than vanilla and chocolate that may contain variegates or inclusions, Mint Cookie Crumble won first while Peanut Butter Pandemonium was a close second.
Chad Kiesow, Stewart’s Shops senior vice president, said the awards “are a testament to the dedication and passion from not only our skilled dairy and ice cream teams but also our local dairy farmers, who we want to acknowledge and thank for their contributions to earning these awards.”
Stewart’s works with 20 local dairy farms to source their raw milk, the company said. They pick up the milk daily, process and bottle it themselves at their manufacturing plant in Greenfield, New York, to ensure the highest standards of quality.
Founded in 1945, Stewart’s Shops is an employee- and family-owned c-store chain known for its milk, ice cream, coffee, Easy Food meals and other convenience items. There are 357 Stewart’s Shops in upstate New York and southern Vermont.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.