COURTESY MCARTHUR'S BAKERY
You can now get the cookies the workers of McArthur's Bakery's Smiley Face Cookie Company have decorated at Schnucks.
Beginning today, St. Louis-based McArthur's Bakery brings smiles in the form of delicious cookies to 73 Schnucks stores. In a partnership with Lafayette Industries' StepUp Program, “Perfectly Imperfect” butter cookies will now be sold at the store, decorated by adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The StepUp program was created as a training program, designed "to showcase the abilities of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to gain and maintain competitive employment," according to a press release. McArthur’s joined the program and now provides cookie decorating jobs at its Smiley Face Cookie Company branch.
"Our StepUp team members decorate each oversized butter cookie with great care and truly love their jobs," McArthur's Bakery owner Scott Rinaberger says in a press release. "We are happy to bring these special cookies and their job-training mission to a much bigger audience through Schnucks."
Janell Schleeper, Schnucks' bakery category manager, says in the press release that Schnucks is excited to help local companies like McArthur’s bring their products to the store, as well as to support their mission to help those with disabilities “maximize their abilities.”
Cookies are labeled as Smiley Face Cookie Company and are decorated in a variety of colors. There are six cookies in each box.
"Each delicious cookie is individually decorated with a smile by a McArthur's employee,” Schleeper says, “and it warms my heart to think about all the smiles that, together, we will bring to our customers."
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