Today (June 4, 2013), Starbucks introduces La Boulange bakery items to participating Starbucks locations in Seattle (and greater Seattle locations).
I assume I have a few readers who discovered the new bakery items in the pastry case today. What did you think? La Boulange items already were in roughly 400 Starbucks stores in the Bay area/ greater San Francisco area of California.
I recommend going back and reading my previous La Boulange article – it has a lot of information in it:
La Boulange – Media preview event at the Starbucks headquarters.
I dropped by the East Olive Way Starbucks this morning, shortly before 8:00 a.m. The store looked great. Chris, a Starbucks partner, wore a pink apron and sampled all kinds of La Boulange items. I tried the new Pumpkin Cheese Cream Loaf Cake, which apparently was a last minute addition to the lineup – I don’t recall having tried it at the media event I attended. Today, I tried the small carrot cake (not sure of its exact name) with vanilla frosting, which was delicious. I thought that even the store’s door cling looked great!
I am hoping that a few readers have tried the new La Boulange items! What do you think? Obviously, you can weigh in whether or not you’ve had the chance to taste the new bakery items!
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Just found this thread and I totally agree that the product line is not good at all. What makes me really sad is that I used to live in San Francisco where La Boulange bakery is centered, and I’d eat there all the time. All of the food was delicious, from pastries to savory sandwiches and salads. I’m angry that people are going to start associating the La Boulange name with bad, bland food 🙁
I really miss the old pastries from Starbucks these ones that they have now are way overpriced and a lot smaller and the other ones were I used to get their cinnamon rolls and they were so good when they were warmed up please Starbucks bring back the old pastries again!
I think the new pastries like mini loafs are like a cake mix, no substance nothing like the sliced loaf that were like what I make at home. Like another comment earlier, maybe I should thank them as I too am only going for the coffee. I go to the store fronts where they still sell the old pastries, like pumpkin loaf, banana bread and the great oatmeal cookies. I don’t know how long the store fronts will continue to sell the old pastries but I will be going there for my favorites.
I really miss the yummy slices of lemon poundcake, the pumpkin loaf, the choco coffee cake slice flavored with cinnamon, and the treat I waited for with anticipation yearly: gingerbread slices! I have tried several of the new cakes and treats, and I find them uniformly nondescript in flavor, greasy and tough (too high of gluten in the flour mix), smaller and without the tender crumb that the previous treats provided. It was sad enough to watch the coffee varietals disappear, and now the treats are gone, I have tossed my SBUX card, and will not consider this business a destination for an enjoyable treat and a cuppa. Very sorry to see this, as I was a loyal customer at the flagship store when I had a stall in the Pike Place Market so many years ago. I even bought stock in the company, but have sold that too. Sad.
I took the time to make a call to Starbuck’s Corporate to express my disappointment in the new pastries. I had the mini loaf and will never try any of the other ones. It was awful. The fact that it was heated, handed as a to go item, and the concept that by the time the customer gets to their destination that the item would be rubbery (or possibly more rubbery), was completely lost on Starbucks. Even the Starbuck’s employees admit to hearing customer complaints and not liking the new menu. I travel as part of my job and the only saving grace is that Starbuck’s in airports have not switched over to the new menu. I can still enjoy a piece of lemon pound cake with my side order of a tall coffee. Admittedly the draw was the pound cake.
Shame on Starbuck’s for not thinking this one through!
Bring back the butter horns, raspberry scones, cinnamon twists, lemon pound cake! I could go on! The only pastries I will touch now are their croissants, but any food chain can serve a croissant. The cakes are fake and rubbery. The morning bun and coffee cake clearly have disgusting tastes of lemon juice. Bring back the quality Starbuck’s!
Starbucks has a lot to lose even if they sell a lot of gift cards.
I have begun to supplement my cravings for sweet danish by going to a local bakery.
I purchase what I can, and know will last for the next few days.
Starbucks new bakery taste old, stale, and lacks anything that could resemble first class.
I was surprised to find that someone made this poor choice, after the company made many smart decisions. I guess like Microsoft, they have become too big to understand quality control!
I just went to a local Starbucks to get a box of the frozen cranberry orange scones and they told me that these pastries are going away next week. What! No one can tell me why and I just found this website that tells me some information. It looks like the grand opening is next week of this new French Pastry company (La Boulange) that will be selling other items. I am vowing now to not purchase another Starbucks item and trashing my gold card.
There are cranberry orange scones in my store that offers La Boulange. I like them better than the old style.
New morning buns SUCK!!!! Bring back the
Old ones! NOW!!!
This week was the rollout of Starbucks updated pastries (La Boulange). French pastries, Ugh. I have tried many of the new pastries at a rate of three per day. The loaf pastries are no better than circle K. I too, may turn in my gold card for home ground and brewed coffee. And buy my pastries at my local bakery shop.
I have hated the new pastry since day 1. I miss the pumpkin scones, for one. I the last couple of weeks, Starbucks has brought back the wonderful pumpkin bread and other SLICED breads, and that has made me very happy. The little loaf things are just plain silly. The new morning buns are depressing. Bring back ALL the old bakery please.
I used to love the old pastries every morning with my coffee before work not anymore they are hard and tasteless they’re going to lose a lot of money over this decision I will never buy another pastry again
My husband wanted to try the cheese danish. He took a bite. I took a bite. We threw it away! It was tasteless and tough. 🙁
They are absolutely horrible! Frozen pre-packaged Twinkies reheated to a gooey icky mess. I pointed to a lone wizened blue berry scone in the case. I hoped it would be better than the danish I’d sampled and regretted. The employee turned from me and pulled a packaged one from the freezer spent a precious moment of mine extracting it from the wrapper and began to pop it into the microwave. I asked if I could have the one in the case because i did not want it heated. I was told that i didn’t want that one it wasn’t ‘fresh’. What a joke! The frozen one was? Needless to say he put it in for less time and I walked away with a soggy outside still frozen inside pastry. I almost swooned at the airport a day later when they still had their original pastries. Never again. They are expensive and tasteless and I don’t want my pastries heated….I should have the choice…they should never HAVE to be heated just to be edible. Shame on you Starbucks…shame on you.
New morning buns SUCK!!!! Bring back the Old ones! NOW!!!
They have now gotten rid of everything I used to buy – and enjoy – and the replacements not good at all. I have tried to be fair, and have gamely sampled the “new and improved!” versions of the cranberry bliss bar (oh how I still mourn that loss!) the lemon raspberry loaf, and now the cranberry lemon scone. The ‘new’ bliss bar that customers supposedly prefer (sure, that’s why there are forums and blogs all over stating otherwise) is almost gooey, is overly sweet and lacking any of the delicious spice, and the frosting is nothing but sweet, with none of the previous character of the savoury note of cream cheese. The new lemon loaf is, well, lacklustre, tasting vaguely chemical-like and the powdered icing instead of the delicious glaze is a real let -down. The latest blow was the unfortunate transformation of the delicious lemon cranberry scone to something that is neither delicious or lemony. Decidedly lacking in cranberries, the only break from the overall blandness and dryness was the sticky jam layer. Not sure what kind of jam or why it was there, but it sure made eating it a sticky, messy affair. Boo, Starbucks! Boo!
Sign the petition online at http://www.change.org/p/starbucks-get-rid-of-new-bland-la-boulange-food-items. Thanks!!