
Family-Owned Excellence in Bakery Ingredients
As a family-owned manufacturer and distributor, we take pride in the flexibility and service we offer our customers. You can count on us to supply your company with great tasting and high-quality bakery ingredients.
Family-Owned Excellence in Bakery Ingredients
As a family-owned manufacturer and distributor, we take pride in the flexibility and service we offer our customers. You can count on us to supply your company with great tasting and high-quality bakery ingredients.
Our Story
Bear Stewart is a family-owned bakery ingredients manufacturer and distributor. Its roots can be traced back to 1899 when the company began as a bakery cooperative on the west side of Chicago with the goal of providing the finest ingredients to local bakers. The coop operated for nearly 70 years before falling on hard times in a rapidly changing market. In 1966 the modern Bear Stewart was born when a group of young entrepreneurs purchased the business. Under their vision, they transformed Bear Stewart into a world class bakery manufacturer, supplying a range of high-quality bakery products for grocery, foodservice, and wholesale and retail bakery customers across North America under the ‘Bear’s’ brand and private labels.
In 2024, the business changed hands once more to the next generation of leadership with renewed energy to drive the next chapter of growth. Over the years our ownership and business model may have changed, but the Bear Stewart commitment to supplying the highest quality and best tasting bakery ingredients remains constant.
Operating out of two historic manufacturing facilities in downtown Chicago, the Bear Stewart team leverages decades of experience and thousands of formulations to deliver the highest quality and best tasting custom and standard bakery products within the USA and abroad. In a market filled with mega-companies, we strive to delight our customers by being nimble, responsive, and caring while never compromising on taste or consistency.