ATTLEBORO, Mass. – Willow Tree, a New England-based provider of prepared fresh/sold frozen poultry pies and fresh deli and sandwich salads, announced the company is bringing its chicken pies to the New York metropolitan area for the first time.

The company's chicken pies are now available in the frozen foods section of nearly 200 Stop & Shop stores in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, 24 Grand Union Family Markets in New York, Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts and 13 Best Yet Markets in the Metro New York and Long Island areas, according to Willow Tree.

Stop & Shop and Grand Union will carry all three varieties of Willow Tree Premium Chicken Pies — Original Premium Chicken Pie, Premium Chicken Pie with Classic Vegetables and Premium Chicken Pie with Red Bliss Potatoes — in the three-serving, 26-oz. size.

Best Yet Markets will carry the Premium Chicken Pies with Classic Vegetables and Red Bliss Potatoes in the three-serving, 26-oz. size and the Original Premium Chicken Pie in the single-serving, 8-oz. size, the company said. The average retail price of its three-serving, 26-oz. premium chicken pie is $6.49.

“We recently upgraded our cooking and production facilities in order to meet increasing demand as we continue to enter new markets beyond New England and expand our product lines,” said Walter Cekala, president of Willow Tree. “Even as we grow, we continue to make our pies by hand with only the freshest ingredients, like you would at home only in a much bigger kitchen.”

The upgrades have increased production by 30 to 40 percent and have also improved the efficiency of pie-making operations, the company said.