How to support St. Louis grocery stores and restaurants at the same time

Pick up your favorite local products under one roof.

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Looking to support local restaurants and grocery stores during the COVID-19 pandemic? Shop local. 

These days, many local grocery stores are doubling down on promoting locally made products. For example, Schnucks is setting up in-store displays showcasing local breweries and other brands. The stores are also stocking more items from local restaurants, including the recently debuted frozen potstickers from Crispy Edge and grab-and-go items from Revel Kitchen and Seoul Taco. Ole Tyme Produce has launched a new online store for customers to shop directly for fresh produce and other items, including products from local companies like Knead Bakehouse, Kern Meats, Buzy Beez Honey, Baetje Farms, Dubuque Coffee, and Cahokia Rice. Items are available for delivery or curbside pickup.

We recently scoured the shelves at Schnucks (on Arsenal), Dierbergs (the Brentwood location) and Straub’s (in the Central West End) to track down as many local brands as we could. While there are likely far more local options, the takeaway is that whatever you need, there’s probably a locally produced option.

Soups

Saint Louis Bread Co. offers a line of fresh soups, mac and cheese, and pasta. We found the items in the refrigerated section near the deli counter at Schnucks and Dierbergs.

Deli Meat

Volpi deli meats are easy to find at all stores, including sliced cold cuts of sopressa, salami, capicola, and pancetta. Pizza or salad-ready ingredients, such as chopped pancetta and prosciutto, are also available with the fresh DIY pizza items at Schnucks.

Cheese

Schnucks stocks cheese from a number of metro area dairies, such as Baetje Farms and Marcoot Jersey Creamery, as well as Missouri creameries from farther afield, such as Green Dirt Farm from the Kansas City area. You’ll also find local options at Straub’s and Dierbergs.

Snacks and Breakfast

Straub’s stocks grain-based snacks and breakfast items, including granola from Banner Road Baking Company, Billy Goat Chip Company, and Mound City Shelled Nut Company.

Toasted Ravioli

Grab another St. Louis classic from the freezer: raviolis (toasted and otherwise) from Louisa and Fazio’s, with accompanying sauces.

Potstickers

Potstickers from Crispy Edge are now in stock at Schnucks, as well as in the frozen food section at Straub’s.

Frozen Custard and Ice Cream

You’ll have to recreate the excitement of waiting in line for Ted Drewes at home, but you can pick up the legendary frozen custard in the basic flavors—original, strawberry, and chocolate—at any of the locations we visited. And at Straub’s, Sia’s Italian Ice joins Ted Drewes in the freezer aisle.

Frozen Pizza

Frozen pizza's among the easiest categories to shop local. You won’t get bored either—all of the stores feature multiple brands and combinations of toppings. Familiar names include thin-crust pizzas from stalwarts like Lena’s, Dogtown, and The Bar Pizza. Schnucks has the 4 Hands range of pies featuring collaborations with local names from Sugarfire and Lion’s Choice to Old Vienna. Straub’s also stocks Shakespeare’s, Cusumano’s, and Gallagher Bros. Pizza.

DIY Pizza

If lockdown has left you with time on your hands, graduate from frozen pizza to easy DIY pies. Look for ingredients from Imo’s, including shells, Provel, and pizza sauce.

Pasta Sauce

Perhaps it's no surprise, but you'll find strong representation from The Hill when it comes to pasta sauces. Slightly different in each store, familiar St. Louis restaurants and brands include Rich & Charlie’s, Rigazzi’s, Viviano’s, The Pasta House, Taste of the Hill, and Mama Sugo from Vito's Sicilian Pizzeria & Ristorante.

Barbecue

Schnucks stocks fresh barbecue meats from Sugarfire, including sliced brisket, pulled pork, pulled chicken, baby back ribs, and burnt ends.

Barbecue Sauce

Of course, you also need the barbecue sauce—and there are plenty of local options. Dierbergs had perhaps the broadest selection of Missouri-made barbecue sauces that we saw, with brands including Halo + Cleaver, Blues Hog, and Maull’s, alongside restaurant  labels like Pappy’s and Sugarfire. Scnucks and Straub’s stock most of the above, too. 

Other Sauces and Seasonings

We spotted wing sauce from Syberg’s and Imo’s, and found lots of local brands among the range of seasonings and rubs. Straub’s had a pretty strong choice in this area, too.

Salad Dressing

If you need salad dressing or vinaigrette, there’s no excuse for not buying a bottle from one of the local brands, including Charlie Gitto’s, Zia’s, Taste of the Hill, and The Pasta House. All three stores had an abundance of choice.

Beer, Wine & Spirits

St. Louis breweries you’re likely to see at all of the stores include Urban Chestnut, Schlafly, 4 Hands, Earthbound, Heavy Riff, 2nd Shift, Rockwell, Civil Life, and Six Mile Bridge. And beyond the metro area's breweries, there are other Missouri brands, such as Logboat, Public House, and Bur Oak Brewing Company.

When it comes to liquor, skip the rail brands and look for products from the likes of 1220 and StilL 630. At Schnucks, we  found a gin from each distillery: 1220’s Barrel Reserve and StilL 630’s Volstead’s Folly. Dierbergs stocks 1220 gin and Pinckney Bend gin from New Haven. Other alcoholic offerings you might pick up include Missouri wines (especially at Schnucks and Dierbergs) and canned cocktails from 1220 Spirits. Dierbergs had the largest choice of 1220’s range, including Gin Boogie and Aviation.

Coffee & Tea

Each of the three stores diverged somewhat from the others, though there are a few common threads. Straub’s sells Kaldi’s by weight and stocks bags of coffee from Blueprint, Goshen, and Stringbean. It also stocks two of the city’s century-old coffee roasters, with cans of Thomas Coffee and Ronnoco Keurig pods. If you’re not a coffee drinker, there are also Firepot Nomadic Teas in a variety of flavors. Schnucks has bags of coffee from Kaldi’s and Goshen, as well as canned cold brew from Kaldi’s and Kaleidoscope. And at Dierbergs, you’ll find a plentiful assortment of local brands that includes Ronnoco beans sold by weight, Mississippi Mud Co., Kaldi’s, and more.

Other Beverages

You can find Fitz’s and Vess everywhere, and Straub’s stocks local kombuchas, Companion Kombucha, and Komblu.

Many grocery stores are doing what they can to make shopping as safe as possible, but social distancing can still be a challenge if the store is busy or the aisles are narrow. Take the necessary precautions, and maintain a safe distance. Wear a mask to protect yourself and others, including grocery store workers. UFCW Local 655, the local chapter of the union representing grocery store employees, has lobbied the governor's office to require shoppers to wear cloth masks while in grocery stores and other retail locations.

Consider when the best time to visit the store might be. Check store websites for the latest guidance and opening times; both Schnucks and Dierbergs reserve the first hour of business as priority shopping time for seniors. Google Maps “Popular Times” feature offers a guide to how busy stores are at different times of day, including a real-time “Live” update. Schnucks is also limiting the number of shoppers inside some of its stores and asking customers to line up outside if capacity is reached; the chain has launched a page on its website to allow customers to check the current status.

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