I generally make my own coffee and have not been to a Starbucks in years but used to like the caramel macchiato with a piece of the crumb topped coffee cake for a treat. I was XMAS shopping on Sunday and had to wait for one of the stores to open so I thought I would treat myself at a nearby Starbucks.
When I saw the sad little coffee cake that replaced the beautiful hunk of crumb topped goodness they used to have, I was shocked. It looked like something that came out of a vending machine with a Hostess wrapper on it.
What a disappointment?
Starbucks, with great fanfare, partnered with a "real" San Francisco bakery and completely replaced their pastries. It appears the SF place took that opportunity to go "factory". It all sucks now, and everything is cellophane wrapped like the stuff you can buy at a bus station.
It really depends on where the Starbucks was located. If it was inside another store then it wasn't an actual Starbucks, and the food may have come from that store or from another vendor. If it was a standalone Starbucks or one inside a mall, then it's from their new pastry supplier, La Boulange. A lot of the pastries are hugely improved from what they used to be. Some aren't as good. They definitely aren't all "cellophane wrapped", as they warm up the pastries for you so that they're fresh.
I noticed that the sizes of the scones and other pastries seem smaller as well. Not quite the "mini" but no more than 3 bites to finish. And the prices on some items are higher than before. No more Grande and scone/coffee cake for under $5.
Back when Starbucks sourced baked goods locally there were some real treats to be found, but they fell victim to their own success and got too big to deal with so many small local establishments.
Right, but you're talking about 15+ years ago. I'd truly love it if they used all local baked goods, but that'd be a nightmare to coordinate with all their stores now. And if the whole La Boulange thing shows anything, it's that people demand consistency -- they want the same crumb cake in every Starbucks and they never want it to change, ever.
yeah, what happend?I wondered the same thing
It used to be from My Grandma’s of New England and then Starbucks started making their own in house. They are still sold on QVC or their own website.
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