Dad’s Original Scotch Oatmeal ™ Cookies 

As the story goes, the recipe came to America around the same time as the first Straub’s store. The cookies originated in California and were one of the first franchised businesses in the country. As many as 24 bakeries were located across the US and Canada and, in 1927, a Dad’s Cookie salesman passed through St. Louis. A local ice cream shop bought the local franchise rights and they have been available in St. Louis ever since! This is our second best selling cookie, beating out famous national brands like Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Biscoff and Famous Amos. This crunchy oatmeal cookie uses the original recipe to this day. I like a variety of cookies, but this one is tops with ice cream. The crunchy oatmeal texture stands up to hard or soft ice cream and leaves you with a perfect alternative for a spoon!

Fitz’s Rootbeer

A business associate from Spain was visiting and asked about root beer and I realized this is truly a bit of Americana that has not been exported. It was not invented by Charles Hires, but he did do a great deal to distribute and popularize what he had first called “root tea” and later changed to “root beer” — early marketing genius! In 1876, he presented his Root Beer in Philadelphia and, several years later, began to sell millions of glasses of the stuff. Barq’s root beer came along just before the turn of the century and the opening of Straub’s in Webster Groves. A&W, in California, and I.B.C. (Independent Breweries Company) in St. Louis followed in 1918 & 1919. Prohibition brought many new brands in the 20′s and 30′s and the popularity of root beer grew tremendously. In 1947, Fitz’s Root Beer opened in St. Louis in the middle of the nostalgic drive-in restaurant era. By the mid-50′s, cola had surpassed root beer in popularity and many brands faded away throughout the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s. In the 1990′s, interest in micro brewed root beers started up and Fitz reopened with what is one of the best classic, rich and creamy root beers on the planet. This is our top selling root beer and we have over 55 varieties at any given time. I love root beer and the flavor profiles have a broad range from sassafras, cinnamon, wintergreen, vanilla, honey and even butterscotch flavors. The mouth feel on Fitz is creamy and silky, the liquid darkly colored and the flavor is a nice balance of rooted spice. I credit Charles Schultz for my love of root beer – it was the favorite drink of Charlie Brown’s dog Snoopy. Chill a mug in the freezer for an hour, remove, hold at a 45 degree angle and pour in some icy cold Fitz’s and it will be your favorite too!

Stinger Honey 

If you have been to the Clayton Farmers Market in the past, you may have stumbled onto Stinger’s Honey. Joy Stinger is a delightful lady who sells her locally produced honey in a wide variety of recycled bottles, and some specially bottled for Straubs in a hex jar and classic squeeze bear. The honey is harvested in late May, early July and mid August with nectar sources from mint, comfrey, hops, honeysuckle and linden tree blossoms.  Honey from different floral sources, regions and times of the year each take on their own unique taste. They can be enjoyed as a sweetener for beverages, on your favorite bread or cheese, or used in baking. Most raw honey crystallizes over time and can be returned to a liquid state by heating gently. Place the glass container in hot water and store above 70 degrees if possible.

Straub’s Ice Cream

Our Ice Cream has always been produced in small batches from high quality ingredients. Originally from our own production facility and more recently by Ronnie Ryan of Ronnie’s Ice Cream/ Quezel Sorbets fame. Vanilla is the top flavor in the United States. Our Straub’s super premium vanilla ice cream uses a Tahitian vanilla extract that creates its unique flavor profile that cannot be found on any other grocer’s shelf. For a country that loves different flavors this may seem odd, but consider how easy it is to customize vanilla ice cream. You can add fresh ingredients like walnuts, pistachios, berries or other fruit, dulce de leche, hot fudge, marshmallow cream, peanut butter – the list could go on and on! Vanilla is our most popular flavor too, followed by cinnamon, peppermint, coffee and chocolate chip. Ronnie’s Ice Cream/ Quezel Sorbets have been making all natural super premium ice cream and sorbets since 1979.

Ted Drewes

Since 1930, Ted Drewes custard has been a favorite St. Louis treat. To qualify as a frozen custard, the recipe must have at least 10% butterfat and 1.4% egg yolk. Ted Drewes frozen custard has less air than the minimum required for super premium ice cream for a dense, creamy taste you will not find in regular ice cream. There are only two St. Louis locations, South Grand and Chippewa, so if you don’t live close and want to taste this St. Louis classic, you will need to pick it up at Straub’s!

Bissinger’s Handcrafted Chocolatier

At Bissinger’s inception in 17th Century France, confectioners were known as true artisans of their time and were the most highly regarded of all tradesmen in their craft. The Bissinger name spread quickly and their confections were soon a favorite throughout Europe. For more than 350 years, Bissinger’s confections have been made with our signature European chocolate and the classic skills that have been handed down from generation to generation of chocolatiers. We seek out only the finest ingredients to provide both unique and innovative flavor combinations—all while staying true to our long-standing legacy. We believe that part of enjoying fine confections comes from a rich understanding of our history, sourcing only premium ingredients and the passionate attention to detail that goes into every piece we craft.

What-A-Ya-Nuts?!

If you’re a snack nut, a health nut, or just a little nuts yourself, Snack In Sanity with What-A-Ya Nuts?! Food industry veteran, Howie Sher, launched this St. Louis-based company in January 2010 with the goal of providing a healthier alternative to the many snacks on the market that are full of sugar and artificial ingredients. Sher operates by a simple philosophy: “If you can’t pronounce it, it’s not meant to be eaten.” What-A-Ya Nuts?! uses real ingredients like cane sugar and butter, baked to a crunch using oat flour and corn meal to hold it all together. Available in four flavors, this is a fun snack that won’t weigh you down, or make you feel bad about eating it.

Nutritious Planet: Mookies Cookies & Herculite Granola

These deliciously healthy products are made with wholesome ingredients and tasty flavors that will keep you coming back for more. Head baker & owner, Mike Marino, recalls, “My love of baking started when I was fortunate enough to join St. Louis Bread Company—now Panera—when it first opened. I created the bakery products that are still enjoyed all over the country. Nutritious Planet is now my canvas for creating products. Nutritious Planet was started in 2007 and the focus has been on using interesting combinations and techniques to get the most out of the ingredients.  The products are baked in small batches and are carefully produced so that they are consistent from one batch to the next.”

Other local St. Louis brands we carry:

• Ann & Allen mixes
• Anna Marie’s ice cream
• Better Life Cleaning
• Billy Goat Chips
• Caramel House handmade caramels
• Chef Mel’s salsa
• Citizen Kane’s
• Dogtown Pizza
• Hacienda salsa
• Hautly Cheese
• Hendrickson’s dressings
• Vivienne’s dressings
• Inbru coffee flavorings
• Jasbo’s salsa
• Kakao Chocolate
• Kaldi coffee
• Kuva coffee
• Lochhead vanilla
• Maulls BBQ sauce
• Merz salsa
• Mound City nuts/ peanut butter
• Pretzel’s and……
• PXR
• Quezel sorbets
• Rivertown Rib rub
• Smile Squared
• Straub’s BBQ
• Super smokers
• Sophia’s Favorite pizza
• St. Louis restaurants
• Spudmaster chips
• Thomas coffee
• T J’s Pizza
• Uncle Bob’s jelly and seasonings