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You are here: Home / Maine / Inside with Stonewall Kitchen | What Happens on a Bloggers Retreat?

in Maine· Partnerships and Sponsored

Inside with Stonewall Kitchen | What Happens on a Bloggers Retreat?

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Have you ever wondered about collaborations between bloggers and brands? Tag along with me for a behind-the-scenes look at Stonewall Kitchen’s bloggers retreat at their headquarters in York, Maine.

Inside with Stonewall Kitchen | What Happens on a Bloggers Retreat?

Who is Stonewall Kitchen?

I’ve blogged about this favorite store of mine and their products for some time now in the posts:

Summer Destination Maine, Stonewall Kitchen

The Best Maine Stonewall Kitchen Gift Baskets

Seasonal Inspiration with Stonewall Kitchen

Stonewall Kitchen was created by Jim Stott and Jonathan King, who began their food journey by selling blueberry jams at flea markets in Portsmouth, NH in 1991. And today the Stonewall Kitchen’s home campus is just around the corner from our home here in York, Maine. You may read all about their amazing story HERE.

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.”

A Little Tidbit:

We gave away Stonewall Kitchen’s Blueberry Jam to guests at our wedding back in 1998. They were a huge hit even back then.

What is a Blogger’s Retreat?

Many brands host mini-conferences, gathering influencers and bloggers alike in an effort to inspire and educate them on their company and products.

In return, bloggers and influencers partner with these brands, incorporating what they have learned into their content.

Whether it’s on a blog, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, or TikTok.

Inside Stonewall Kitchen’s Bloggers Retreat Day 1

With the addition of Stonewall Kitchen’s new home store this year, I was honored to be welcomed into this talented group of food bloggers and influencers.

And boy, did we have fun!

We all met up on the first evening at the beautiful York Harbor Inn, which would be the accommodations for most over the next couple of days.

A gift basket filled with Maine goodies was gifted to each of us.

Gift Bag

SHOP WHAT’S IN THE BAG

An Evening of Collaboration

The evening began with a ride in a sleek white limousine to Old Vines Wine Bar and Restaurant in Kennebunk, Maine.

Most of us had never met before so we chatted and caught up on the 30-minute drive to the restaurant. So fun!

Inside with Stonewall Kitchen | What Happens on a Bloggers Retreat?
Inside with Stonewall Kitchen | What Happens on a Bloggers Retreat?
Old Vines Wine Bar Sign

We enjoyed the most fabulous food pairings, all made with Stonewall Kitchen’s favorites.

Starting out of course, with Maine lobster rolls.

woman serving lobster rolls

The food and company were all fantastic!

And we joked about how we could take all the photos we wanted without being embarrassed, as we were all amongst friends…

Charcuterie Station
Charcuterie Station
Falafel Appetizer
Falafel Appetizer
Caprese Salad
Caprese Salad

Inside Stonewall Kitchen’s Bloggers Retreat Day 2

Stonewall Kitchen’s Bloggers Retreat Breakfast

Well, because it’s Stonewall Kitchen the next morning began with breakfast in their cafe, where I had a grilled blueberry muffin and a side of their famous blueberry jam, recommended by one of their marketing managers, Sarah. Ammmmmazing…

I had never thought to grill my blueberry muffins before have you?

Grilled Blueberry Muffin

We were then welcomed into Stonewall Kitchen’s corporate offices with open arms to receive our guest badges along with the day’s agenda.

Inside with Stonewall Kitchen | What Happens on a Bloggers Retreat?

Stonewall’s Kitchen Photography Tour

First up on the day’s agenda was a visit and tour of Stonewall Kitchen’s Photography Department.

As a home decor blogger, my eye immediately gravitated to the wall of props used daily for photo shoots. We learned all about how important the size and depth of each of these pieces are to the photography layout.

Shelves of Dishes

Wow, how amazing it was to see all the behind-the-scenes of food photography from the workings of a catalog layout, how to style the food, lighting, design, and so much more.

Woman Styling Food
Photography Stylist
Sandwich
Food Photography
Man at Computer
Photographer

A Little Tidbit:

We learned that Stonewall Kitchen’s Creative Director designs and draws all the holiday packaging up herself every year. No clip art is needed here!

And that one of the original owners Jonathan, hand-wrote so many of the original labels that they created a font out of his handwriting that lives on the packaging today.

A Guided Tour of Stonewall Kitchen by CEO John Stiker

How many CEOs take the time to meet influencers and bloggers like myself?

Well, John took his entire morning touring us all around the Stonewall Kitchen campus!

And boy did we learn a lot!

Man
John Snider, CEO of Stonewall Kitchen

After a tour of the Stonewall corporate store, we visited the merchandising room.

Man

A room filled with displays where the store practices merchandising display concepts along with merchandising slogans to match the upcoming displays on a whiteboard for the seasons ahead.

Slogans like “A Walk on the Beach”, “Mint Mahem”, and “Splish Splash” are just a few.

Inside with Stonewall Kitchen | What Happens on a Bloggers Retreat?
Merchandising Display

A Little Tidbit:

York Maine’s local astronaut, Chris Cassidy when up in space in 2020 not only brought Stonewall Kitchen’s Blueberry Jam up with him, he requested more. It took months to get it to him. But the mission was accomplished…

Manufacturing

We visited the warehouse to factory production getting a glimpse of what was “Being Made Today…”

Inside with Stonewall Kitchen | What Happens on a Bloggers Retreat?

Lunch with Stonewall Kitchen

Then it was time for another amazing “Gorge Fest” prepared and presented by head chef Brendan.

Apparently “Gorge Fest” is a coined term by the employees for the gourmet foods that are regularly prepared in their in-house kitchen.

Man in Kitchen

A Little Tidbit:

One of Stonewall Kitchen’s first orders ever was purchased by Crate and Barrel for 5000 jars of Marmelade. At that time Jonathan wrote out all the labels on the jars himself. That’s a lot of handwriting!

There was just one problem with the order, Jonathan had forgotten the r in Marmalade on all the labels. When Crate and Barrel phoned to inform him of this mistake, being the witty guy that Jonathan is, he responded, “Oh no, it’s Maine that’s how we say Mamalade”! Crate and Barrel loved it and it was sold as is.

Dinner with Stonewall Kitchen

After a pleasant 4-hour break, we convened once again at the Wiggly Bridge Distillery for another “Gorge Fest” prepared by chef Brendan of Stonewall Kitchen.

Wiggly Bridge Distillery created specialty drinks made with Stonewall Kitchen’s ingredients to pair with each food dish.

The Bada Bing Cherries and April’s Maple Crunch were my favorites!

Wiggly Bridge Distillery
Wiggly Bridge Distillery
Inside with Stonewall Kitchen | What Happens on a Bloggers Retreat?

And I was surprised to learn on our tour today, that the Bada Bing Cherries are Stonewall Kitchen’s top seller! They are amazingly delicious!

A big thank you to our friends and hosts Sarah, Emma, and Jacob, Digital Marketing Managers for inviting and hosting us on this amazing Stonewall Kitchen’s Bloggers Retreat!

3 People

I’m so glad you dropped by today and if you are new to my blog, welcome! I hope you were totally inspired!

Please join me as a regular here at Dabbling & Decorating by signing up for my Saturday morning newsletter and never miss an update!

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Inside with Stonewall Kitchen | What Happens on a Bloggers Retreat?

I’ve created the above custom pin just for this post!  Hearing from you makes my day and your comments mean so much to me! Please join me on Instagram & Pinterest to see more!

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This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.”

SHOP STONEWALL KITCHEN HOME

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Inside with Stonewall Kitchen | What Happens on a Bloggers Retreat?

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Filed Under: Maine, Partnerships and Sponsored

Previous Post: « 10 Best Fall Inspired Vintage Decor Ideas
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kristine says

    September 17, 2022 at 7:50 am

    I so enjoyed this post! You did a great job of helping me feel like I was right there along with you!! What a fun and fascinating place! I will need to start paying closer attention to Stonewall products. A few of those pictures really got my attention. Thank you for sharing – and I’m so glad you enjoyed yourself!

    Reply
    • Ann says

      September 17, 2022 at 7:56 am

      I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Kristine. They are a fabulous company and the products are all-time favorites. We gave the blueberry jam away as wedding gifts at our wedding 24 years ago:)

      Reply
    • Kathy says

      September 17, 2022 at 9:16 pm

      My sister in Ct sends me a case of Stonewall Kitchens Cranberry Horseradish sauce for Christmas and our left over turkey sandwiches would not be the same without it. I love all their products but here in N.C there is not a store nearby so mail order is my only way to purchase from them. Thoroughly enjoyed your sharing your visit to their headquarters.

      Reply
      • Ann says

        September 18, 2022 at 10:56 am

        I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Kathy. It’s really a very special place…

        Reply
  2. Lisa Anderson says

    September 17, 2022 at 9:05 am

    Sounds like it was a fabulous experience. Can’t wait to hear more about it over a grilled blueberry muffin…with Stonewall Kitchen jam, of course!!

    Reply
    • Ann says

      September 17, 2022 at 9:30 am

      Lisa, you would have enjoyed it so much. The food and preparations were just amazing!

      Reply
  3. Rachel Harper says

    September 17, 2022 at 9:41 am

    Ann
    That sounds like so much fun. It’s great that it’s located so close to you.

    Reply
    • Ann says

      September 17, 2022 at 10:20 am

      It was so much fun, Rachel. This is the first time I’ve ever been able to go to something like this and not have to travel, it was awesome:)

      Reply
  4. Kristin | White Arrows Home says

    September 17, 2022 at 2:24 pm

    Ann!!! This is so much fun! I’m so excited you got to be part of this and I loved getting to see the behind the scenes!! I’m going to share with my followers in my weekend round up! They will love reading about your fun too!

    Reply
    • Ann says

      September 18, 2022 at 10:54 am

      I’m so glad you enjoyed it Kristin, thank you so much!

      Reply
  5. Kim | Shiplap and Shells says

    September 17, 2022 at 6:31 pm

    Wow, Ann! This looks like it was such a great visit. Stonewall kitchen is such an amazing brand and we love their product. So glad you shared this retreat with us.

    Reply
    • Ann says

      September 18, 2022 at 10:55 am

      It was Kim, we had such a nice time! I know you love Stonewall Kitchen as I do!

      Reply
  6. Molly says

    September 19, 2022 at 3:02 pm

    Great roundup of all the fun we had! It was wonderful to share this fun experience with you!

    Reply
    • Ann says

      September 20, 2022 at 7:47 pm

      Thank you, Molly. I enjoyed yours as well today. It was so much fun!

      Reply
  7. Cindy says

    September 20, 2022 at 6:51 am

    Omgoodness, this looks like an amazing retreat! Looks like you had so much fun and that you learned a lot 😊 I love the story about the labels on the marmalade – so fun!!

    Reply
    • Ann says

      September 20, 2022 at 7:46 pm

      We had a wonderful time Cindy. And yes isn’t that such a funny story!

      Reply
  8. Amy says

    October 2, 2022 at 10:03 pm

    Wow so fun to hear all about the stonewall kitchen retreat! I love the pictures and all the details! What a great weekend you and molly had with one of my favorite maine brands! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Ann says

      October 3, 2022 at 2:38 pm

      We had so much fun Amy!

      Reply

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Welcome to Dabbling & Decorating, a thrifty & vintage home decorating blog.  A place where I love to share decorating tips, vintage and thrifty finds, DIY projects, and antiques from our collected homes in Vermont and Coastal Maine. And our Berner, Ella who loves to pop in from time to time…  I’m so thrilled you stopped by today and I hope you will become a regular here at Dabbling & Decorating! Read more.

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Welcome to Dabbling & Decorating, a thrifty & vintage home decorating blog.  A place where I love to share decorating tips, vintage and thrifty finds, DIY projects, and antiques from our collected homes in Vermont and Coastal Maine. And our Berner, Ella who loves to pop in from time to time…  I’m so thrilled you stopped by today and I hope you will become a regular here at Dabbling & Decorating! Read more here.

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