nosh nook #58 - wednesday, june 3, 2009

starbucks revamps bakery food ingredients (link)
06.02.09 - reuters - by lisa baertlein

when it comes to shopping with a conscience, starbucks has always been one of my main nemeses. over the years, i've definitely done my fair share of starbucks bashing, but have also made my fair share of starbucks purchases. without fail, i end up with one or two starbucks gift cards per year, which leads to me making a few trips a year. this usually snowballs into me going back even after the gift cards have run out & as a result, i end up spending actual money there as well. occasionally, i'm just buying coffee, but since the flavor's a bit too rich for my tastes, i'm usually spending money on their baked goods & sandwiches.

as lisa baertlein reports, at the end of june, starbucks will be overhauling its menu & offering customers healthier food options. this means that they'll "begin selling baked goods without high-fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors and dyes," items like a banana walnut bread made from only eleven ingredients & a reduced fat very berry coffee cake that's twenty percent fruit. these efforts even come with their own clever tag line--"real food. simply delicious."

starbucks' food division has constantly struggled, but they hope that making a push toward using healthy, all natural ingredients in their foods will allow them to finally right that ship. michelle gass, starbucks' executive VP of marketing, noted that "food has always been the achilles' heel of this company...that statement will be long buried after we launch this program." it's funny, i always thought their achilles heel was their inflated prices...or their until-recent practice of flooding the market with starbucks...or their anti-unionization tactics. apparently it's not. it's their pumpkin bread.