prettycake - 10 March 2013 11:09 PM

OK,  not everything is for everyone.  If I don’t like it, I won’t buy it. as simple as that.  I’ve had Starbucks pastries.  It is not the best,  but it is not the worst but I won’t go on a crusade . To each its own.  JMHO

As a consumer, I tend to rate food based on its price. With the exceptions of catastrophic failures (such as food poisoning), horrible yet borderline edible food can be utterly delicious if it’s totally free! If the same food is priced at above average prices, then this is where discontentment begins.

Julie - 11 March 2013 09:00 AM

Jeanne - 10 March 2013 04:33 PM

Being in the food service industry, I’ve started to realize that there are huge food production companies that manufacture an enormous variety of things, and some places pass these off as house-made, while others rely on the convenience of just being able to order it in. 

Likewise, it occurred to me, when working from Mozza’s cookbook, that “ordering in” has become the standard in the restaurant industry, and the way to stand out from the crowd is to vertically integrate and make your own food.  Mozza makes their own breads/pizza crusts, sausage, desserts, etc. 

I was so disappointed to find out that a local pizza restaurant, which produces sourdough crusts and makes a big deal out of marketing their sourdough, doesn’t make them on the premises, but rather buys parbaked sourdough crusts from a supplier.  I haven’t even eaten there yet but I felt a sense of loss when I found that out- I think I had been imagining that at some point I might eat there and then if they weren’t busy, maybe strike up a conversation with the dough person about feeding schedules, challenges of sourdough, etc.  I would have had to chat with a freezer full of shrink-wrapped crusts…

Be honest here. In a blind taste-test, you could actually tell the difference between a sourdough that’s baked normally versus one that’s par-baked? Even if said sourdough has been covered in cheese, tomato paste, cured meat products, and other strongly-flavored food products etc?

karin - 11 March 2013 12:53 PM

the standard operating procedure seems to be outsourcing to the cheapest supplier,

True, but last year, Starbucks bought a bakery and all of their production will eventually be in-house. I don’t think we’re yet seeing any of their output. Perhaps things will get better.

I know this isn’t a pastry, but I did have one of their sandwiches once (didn’t come from the buggy case), and it was rather good, I thought.  Not too small, not to big and sloppy.  I don’t know if it was simply frozen and microwaved or if it was made, but the girl headed to the back and it was a bit before she came out with it, so it could go either way.

Costa are just as big as starbucks here in the UK and they make an amazing chocolate tiffin, I wish I could replicate the recipe!

I had never heard of tiffin before. I love British food. It doesn’t look too complex. Though if you were trying to duplicate a certain recipe getting the right biscuits and fruit might be difficult.

I actually really like the Starbucks store.  That is, I like the things I’ve never baked.  Their fancy pastries, bagels, etc. seem fine, but when I have the things like brownies and scones that I have baked, they seem awful!  It’s really impossible to get a very good baked good from any store except for maybe a tiny family-owned from scratch business, although a good one of those is hard to find.

Perhaps there is hope for starbucks pastries after all.

http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2020956981_laboulangexml.html

I would say let Starbucks handle their own problems, if that’s what we would call it..  I don’t.