A Starbucks customer posted a viral video saying she found a full-sized grasshopper inside her Pumpkin Loaf. She asks viewers if they think Starbucks did enough to reimburse her.
What happened?
Teryn (@teryn1989) has reached over 380,000 views on her TikTok. In the less-than-minute-long video, Teryn uses the voice-over feature to tell her story over a few pictures and videos she took off her order.
The first photo Teryn shows is the receipt from Starbucks that says she ordered one warmed Pumpkin Loaf on Aug. 1. She then added a photo showing a bite-sized portion of her loaf that has an insect leg visibly sticking out of the side.
She explains, “I got my usual caramel macchiato and pumpkin loaf. When I was on my last bite, I found a huge grasshopper.” Teryn added a few more photos of the loaf into her video, including some that compared the size of the grasshopper to a quarter.
Next, she says she called Starbucks after dissecting the loaf, and the company offered her a full refund plus a $20 gift card. Although, she says, “Let me know if you think that they should’ve done more for me.”
Before ending her video, Teryn added a clip that shows her picking apart the loaf with two toothpicks to pull the whole grasshopper out.
@teryn1989 Starbucks story time! #starbucks #pumpkinloaf #gross #coffee@Starbucks @KTLA5NEWS @News5 @NewsViral @News Updates 🌎 @Public Health @Starbucks Partners #news #ktla #ktla5news @instagram #instagram #viral ♬ original sound – teryn1989
Viewers respond
“Now I’m gonna check my loafs,” a user told Teryn in the comments section of her video. “Did they even say they were gonna contact the warehouse that ships it? These things are packed separately in bags. I don’t think $20 was good enough.”
“When I worked at Starbucks the loaf [pieces] were all pre-made and came frozen and prepackaged,” another user told Teryn. “I would call corporate about that!”
Another agreed, “It came from the distribution center like that. Starbucks doesn’t make pastries in house so your location should be safe still.”
Are Starbucks loaves pre-made?
An apparent barista in the r/Starbucks Reddit thread posed the question, “Do customers know that we do not make our food by hand?”
The user explained that after viewing Yelp reviews and other social media posts, they came to find that a lot of Starbucks customers assume the food is prepared fresh in the back of the store. They also said, “I’ve had customers ask if we had a Sous Vide chef in the back making our egg bites. A yelp review said they wouldn’t come back cause they said their Spinach Feta wrap wasn’t made right.”
“ITS FROZEN YALL,” they further emphasize. “We’re not gonna lie about that!”
They then said baristas do not have control over any of the contents of your food, as they do not make any of it from scratch. “Yeah we can take cheese or whatever off of a breakfast sandwich, but that’s about it lol,” they added. “I just don’t get how customers won’t come back because they think we made that specific one bad when we just receive and reheat.”
Pumpkin Loaf problems have gone viral before
Another Starbucks customer previously questioned the business’ baked goods after reading a “produced by” date on the packaging of her Pumpkin Loaf. The Daily Dot reported that the packaging showed her snack was six weeks old as it read, “Produced July 29, 2023,” though she bought it mid-September.
“How long is the shelf life?!” she questioned in the caption.
The user @meganleopard, an apparent barista, said the baked goods are shipped frozen and “pulled to thaw the night before sale and are good for two days wrapped up and then the extras get donated!”
“Unless you get it warmed it’ll be in the plastic,” they continued. The TikToker said Starbucks’ policy since COVID has been to give customers bakery items in their original bags unless the customers want them warmed up.
The Daily Dot reached out to Starbucks via email and to Teryn via TikTok comment and direct message.
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