A Cheesy Answer to a Gouda Question for Starbucks

Nobody is sacrosanct from the mistake-gods hovering above us, waiting in the wings to throw a bit too much salt in the pot.

No company, no organization, no skillful owner, manager or employee can sidestep the misstep that will eventually grasp you.

Last week while lingering at my local Starbucks ( I am a big fan of the multi-national, mega-unit chain that cloaks itself as your neighborhood coffee caf?) I noticed the promotional Autumn sign package being opened in preparation for the latest sign hanging event which took place, this morning.

Just like all the other signage Starbucks creates, the elements of this package were graphically pleasing and popped off the page. Going towards more of a robust Peet's Coffee look with jet black backgrounds, white graphics and colorful pictures rather than the company's normal clean cut colorful look, I noticed the photos in the package jumped off the page. The pictures played with your senses and it was almost as if you could smell the aroma of the featured breakfast sandwich.

Bacon wafting through the air, eggs, scrambled and perfectly folded, the entire package layer with a piece of cheddar, bright yellow cheddar cheese, perfectly dripping just in time for the photographer to capture the motion for the photograph. It looked so real you almost didn't want to touch it for fear the melted goo would stick to your finger, burning just enough to make you remember the sandwich throughout the day.

But wait, isn't that supposed to be Gouda? I asked.  What happened to the Gouda? Why Cheddar? In a picture probably send out to the 4700 plus Starbucks stores wouldn't the type of cheese matter?

Was the chain making a breakfast sandwich change or was the photograph a food stylist's mistake? Would Starbucks now realize it would be cheaper and more cost effective to change the cheese, making the switch from Gouda to Cheddar rather than change than redo the photo shoot, start up the presses and mail the posters to 4700 participating stores?

I waited to see if Tuesday morning's breakfast sandwich would be layered with cheddar to match the promo photo.

Nope. Still a Gouda sandwich.

I called ahead of my visit and asked if anyone had said cheddar is beddar. Nope.

I finally called Starbucks in hopes of getting someone in the PR department to answer a few questions I had.

I left my number, wrote a cute email and expressed the fact that I wanted to know how a huge conglomerate deals with such a mistake. I even told them when my deadline was.

No call back. However, I did get an answer to my email. From Lily. No last name. No identifiable email address, except it came from an email address at Edelman.com. For those who don't deal with PR firms, Edelman is a consumer brand giant. Their website boasts a staff of 3200 people in 51 offices across the globe.  The client list resembles the Fortune 500 list.

Here's my email to Starbucks press department.

Good Afternoon-

I write a restaurant industry column for allbusiness.com and highlight Starbucks frequently. Last week I was in one of your stores while the manager was unpacking her new Autumn signage and I noticed that your bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich, which had Gouda in the photograph last season, was now sporty a bright yellow cheddar. Was this a photo Faux Pas or was it intentional and the Gouda may be on the way out, only to be nudged by a Wisconsin Cheddar? 

Please let me know as I am on deadline - 2:00 p.m. PST - and would like to include this in today's column. 

Here's the response:

Hi John – Thanks for your inquiry.  I can confirm that Starbucks is still featuring gouda in the Starbucks Bacon, Gouda Cheese & Egg Frittata on Artisan Roll. 

All the best,

Lily

I guess nobody could figure out how the Cheddar took the place of Gouda. But it's good to know that when your neighborhood coffee shop makes what appears to be mistake, they just forward the inquiries to one of the largest PR firms on the globe.