Thursday, July 16, 2009

Starbucks Update: Bye Bye Gluten Free Orange Cake?

I've been hearing rumors about this but have now found 2 trusted sources writing about the fact that Starbucks has discontinued their only GF food option (Orange Cake). This has only been in stores since May 1st!

Check out Nancy Lapid's About.com Celiac blog here.
Check out Atlanta's Gluten Free Examiner blog here.

I'm not sure how to react, I've tried the cake a few times and thought it was pretty tasty. I was excited yesterday when I received an email from KIND that their KIND bars (gluten free and dairy free) were going to be carried in Starbucks nation-wide. I didn't realize at the time, it was a replacement for the Orange cakes. I was not able to find an official press release from Starbucks about either announcement - I guess it was announced via Twitter. I've had KIND bars before and liked them but they are not anything like a nice muffin/cake that I would prefer to have with my coffee.

Check out the message from KIND below.
Dear Friends of KIND,
When we launched KIND Snacks five years ago, our goal was to create a great tasting, all-natural, real food bar made from wholesome ingredients you could see and pronounce™. We didn't know KIND would quickly become the fastest-growing line of bars in the United States. Since founding KIND, we have always focused on our philosophy of rejecting false compromises. Instead of "or", we say "and": healthy and tasty, convenient and wholesome, socially responsible and economically successful.

Thanks to your support and that of all who have raved about KIND to friends and family, I'm very proud to announce that our award-winning KIND Bars are now available at over 7,000 Starbucks stores nationwide. We're honored and excited to work with Starbucks and all it stands for - unrelenting commitment to taste, quality, and community, and it's new initiative to introduce healthier, natural offerings under the banner: "Real Food. Simply Delicious."

We hope you will try one of our delicious bars the next time you are at Starbucks: Fruit & Nut Delight, Cranberry Almond + Antioxidants and Mango Macadamia + Calcium. All of the bars make a perfect pairing with a Starbucks coffee, and on that note, we're thrilled to add one more "and" to our list: Starbucks and KIND.

Warmest,
Daniel Lubetzky
CEO and Founder, KIND Snacks
What are your thoughts?

2 comments:

Heather said...

This is awful! My husband and I were so excited when we found that we could go and enjoy coffee and dessert together at Starbucks. There are very few places that my husband is able to get dessert safely. He'd also been enjoying coffee and orange cake for breakfast some mornings. It's great that Starbucks wants to increase there offereings by adding KIND bars but this is no substitute for the orange cakes!

Anonymous said...

I am with Heather! I am happy to see KIND bars (as I've been eating them for awhile now), but sad to see the Orange cake go. It was quite a treat for this particular Starbucks junky. I wish they would carry both.

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