Stew Leonard’s appoints Tavello as COO

With two Long Island locations, one in East Meadow and another in Farmingdale, family-owned and operated Stew Leonard’s announced that Jake Tavello has been named chief operating officer.

Tavello, who first joined Stew Leonard’s in 2003 while in high school, has served as vice president of stores since 2020, managing company-wide technology initiatives and sales opportunities. In his new role as COO, he will oversee product quality and freshness, customer service excellence and growing team members.

Stew Leonard’s is a family affair for Tavello, who is a grandson of store founder Stew Leonard and a nephew of the company’s current president & CEO, Stew Leonard, Jr.

Tavello has worked in every department across all Stew Leonard’s food stores, learning everything from how to toss pizza dough and roast coffee to how to cut a 200-pound swordfish. He also worked for three years at Wegmans Food Markets in their management training program, both in Rochester and outside of Boston. He returned to Stew Leonard’s in 2015 as store director at Stew Leonard’s Danbury location, and launched Instacart at Stew’s. He then went on to serve as the opening VP of Stew Leonard’s in Paramus before his promotion to vice president of stores in 2020.