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News & ArtsWednesday, October 14, 2009
At Large The Mysteries of Sea-Tac Airport
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Those cups of yogurt that Starbucks sells? The ones that come with a little bit of granola under the bubble/lid? Those are broken up granola bars. The larger pieces are flat, some pieces have edges, corners. So that granola in there, plural, is actually a broken up granola bar, singular. I even know the brand of granola bar they're breaking up. So... what's the deal? It can't be cheaper to pay someone to turn granola into bars and then pay someone else to break those bars back down to their pre-bar condition, can it? Are you buying up surplus granola bars somwhere? Or are they past or approaching their sell-buy-date granola bars? What gives, Starbucks?
3
Oh, the fun that one can have with an iPhone. I'll have to check the yogurt with granola next time I'm around a Starbucks.
4
I imagine that the much less sinister truth is that they are probably buying up the manufacturing leftovers from granola bars - the wastage and the bars that break during packing.
In a way, it's kind of recycling.
In a way, it's kind of recycling.
10
Most likely: It's cheaper to ship flat stacks of granola with excellent packing efficiency, and break it on-site, rather than shipping broken granola, with its vastly inferior packing efficiency.
Or else the buying-the-castoffs thing. But I prefer "efficient shipping" over "secondhand granola."
Or else the buying-the-castoffs thing. But I prefer "efficient shipping" over "secondhand granola."
12
Depends. Shipping costs may make it cheaper to ship in bar form As Christin points out. Packaging for a compressed form is cheaper than packaging for an uncompressed form, in general.
13
@6 and @8:
I feel compelled to point out that my brother has always been a fucking nit-picky little bundle of annoying observations. It's not his age, it's his temperament. When we were kids, if I moved my porn stash, he'd not only find it somehow, but he'd put it back where I'd moved it from to let me know that someone was on to it. I never travel with him because his constant moaning and worrying about germs is just too much to take. He can take the most banal bullshit and blow it up to cosmic proportions by just, you know, thinking about it too much. Always has, always will.
I feel compelled to point out that my brother has always been a fucking nit-picky little bundle of annoying observations. It's not his age, it's his temperament. When we were kids, if I moved my porn stash, he'd not only find it somehow, but he'd put it back where I'd moved it from to let me know that someone was on to it. I never travel with him because his constant moaning and worrying about germs is just too much to take. He can take the most banal bullshit and blow it up to cosmic proportions by just, you know, thinking about it too much. Always has, always will.
14
FYI Starbucks in airports and grocery stores aren't run by Starbucks.. they're licensed concept stores. The typical granola at Starbucks stores is much better than that and I have no idea why it's different.
16
(quote from #13: "He can take the most banal bullshit and blow it up to cosmic proportions by just, you know, thinking about it too much.")
Wow. Your brother is either a woman or really really gay.
Wow. Your brother is either a woman or really really gay.
17
@11: So if I'm eating Reese's Pieces, I shouldn't call them 'Reese's Pieces,' I should call them 'candy,' because that's what they are?
Regardless of whether they're healthy, they're bar-shaped, and they have granola in them. Hence, 'granola bars.'
Regardless of whether they're healthy, they're bar-shaped, and they have granola in them. Hence, 'granola bars.'
18
i would imagine that the granola is made much like my homemade granola. baked in an oven in some sort of container. when its done baking i have one massive sheet of granola. i then break it into portable pieces. if production granola is created in the same way on a much larger scale then it would reason that the 'bars' you saw are as #4 said, the leftovers from bar production.
19
WHAT?! A fast food conglomerate ISN'T providing you with the best ingredients possible? Dan...I think you're on to something. I've also heard that there are dangerous people on the internet that will harm you if you meet them in person!
20
The real solution?
Don't buy from Starbucks. Bring your own darned granola bars, or (better yet) make granola at home. That way, you don't disodium whatsapheride and Polysorbate 603 in what you eat.
Don't buy from Starbucks. Bring your own darned granola bars, or (better yet) make granola at home. That way, you don't disodium whatsapheride and Polysorbate 603 in what you eat.
22
Starbucks doesn't usually franchise stores, but in airports companies don't have a choice. These are the only franchise Starbucks you'll find. Therefore Starbucks has much less control over product quality. I bet their coffee is sub-par too.
Just sayin'.
Just sayin'.
23
Easy question to answer, Dan. The granola is turned into bars by machines, not by humans.
Recieving them at Starbucks in bar form allows Starbucks to more strictly control portioning - a portion of 1 bar per package is a lot easier to track and control than a hand-weighed portion of 2.5 oz per yogurt or whatever. The crumbling of the bar doesn't take significantly more labor time than the time spent measuring the correct portion of loose granola.
This stuff all makes a twisted sort of sense if you've worked in foodservice for a significant period of time.
And odds are, ounce for ounce, the granola bars are probably cheaper than bulk granola.
Recieving them at Starbucks in bar form allows Starbucks to more strictly control portioning - a portion of 1 bar per package is a lot easier to track and control than a hand-weighed portion of 2.5 oz per yogurt or whatever. The crumbling of the bar doesn't take significantly more labor time than the time spent measuring the correct portion of loose granola.
This stuff all makes a twisted sort of sense if you've worked in foodservice for a significant period of time.
And odds are, ounce for ounce, the granola bars are probably cheaper than bulk granola.
24
Other Daniel:
Franchise Starbucks are called Seattle's Best Coffees. If it's got the Starbucks name, it's corporate owned.
Franchise Starbucks are called Seattle's Best Coffees. If it's got the Starbucks name, it's corporate owned.
25
@24 wrong. grocery store and airport starbucks are not. the employees at those starbucks don't even get partner cards and can't get discounts at other starbucks. they are fake starbucks, not that real starbucks is better.
26
I'm with you, Dan. I'm also disturbed when a food product lists non-fat milk and milk fat in the ingredients. Wouldn't be easier to just use whole milk?
28
All granola, whether in boxes or bars, is candy because it's held together in chunks with honey, malt syrup, corn syrup, etc.
Bars are often even candy-er because they're enrobed in chocolate, wrapped around nougat, etc.
Oat hulls, wheat chaff, twigs, seeds, and other flavorless bits without the sugary glue is muesli.
Bars are often even candy-er because they're enrobed in chocolate, wrapped around nougat, etc.
Oat hulls, wheat chaff, twigs, seeds, and other flavorless bits without the sugary glue is muesli.
29
Starbucks in grocery stores and in airports are not Starbucks-owned or operated....they are licensed and are the closest thing to "franchises" Starbucks has. The ones in the airport are run by HMS Host, who runs pretty much all of the bars and restaurants in most major airports (all of them?). They source from different food vendors, and their level of customer service (or in my experience, lack therof) and quality is not under Starbucks control. Of course, the poor customer who calls to complain about crappy airport Starbucks service typically doesn't know that.
30
@16 - Chicago Fan is Dan's brother so you'd be correct with that guess of 'really really gay'.
@29 - I used to work at the Starbucks store in the central terminal at SeaTac. We treated everyone as nicely as possible given that the line is usually stretched all the way back to the security checkpoint (at least at the ass-crack of dawn when my shift was). The gloves came off though as soon as someone decided to be a jerk since it usually entailed them holding up the line for everyone else.
@29 - I used to work at the Starbucks store in the central terminal at SeaTac. We treated everyone as nicely as possible given that the line is usually stretched all the way back to the security checkpoint (at least at the ass-crack of dawn when my shift was). The gloves came off though as soon as someone decided to be a jerk since it usually entailed them holding up the line for everyone else.
31
Just and FYI: Starbucks in the airports are in fact run by HMSHost. They are also overseen by a District Manager that does work for Starbucks corporate. In all fairness you should know that they are actually controlled more than a company store. Starbucks corporate may not admit it but they wish they could run a store as good as most of their licensed stores. Licensed stores are by far better run, usually corporate learns things from them.
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