From MITCH: I was hoping you could help me find out whether one of my favorite food items at Starbucks is on its way out.
I love the veggie artisan sandwiches, but I've found them hard to come by in recent months. The stores I've gone to (probably 5 or 6 different stores) say that they only order a couple a day because they're not all that popular. Then, last week, a Cherry Hill, NJ store, which is a pretty large store, said that they were no longer carrying the sandwich at that location.
I wonder whether its days are numbered; I used to love the ranchero wrap, but that just disappeared one day. Anyway you can ask your army of baristas what's going on with the veggie artisan sandwich these days?
UPDATE: Thanks to the readers who answered Mitch's question in comments.
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I know in my region we are limited in the number we can order per day. Some days it's as little as 2 per day and some days we can order 10. Some stores in my immediate area don't sell enough breakfast sandwiches per day to qualify as a store that can carry the veggie artisan. (Even seemingly busy stores may have a different product mix)
Another possibility is that the store manager of that location has made a choice not to carry it either due to low demand or inconsistent availability.
My advice would be to reach out to that store manager personally and ask them. Sometimes baristas don't have all the info behind what's going on with inventory.
Posted by: Anon | February 09, 2013 at 03:20 PM
Just as Anon said sometimes our ordering system will not allow us to order more than 2 at a time. I try to order the maximum it will allow each order because I do have several customers that ask for it daily. Sadly though with only two coming in daily people leave disappointed when we're sold out so early.
Posted by: vito | February 09, 2013 at 11:03 PM
Lots of disappointed confused customers. On those days where we're arbitrarily limited to 2 veggies a day, they're usually gone by 6am and we have an entire day to look forward to of customers asking why we're out again. How hard could it possibly be to provide some consistency on the availability of a sandwich consisting of egg product and some cheese?
Posted by: frapatte | February 10, 2013 at 09:18 AM
one of our only vegetarian options too. it like our spinach and feta, are usually gone by 10am
Posted by: Kaki | February 10, 2013 at 10:20 AM
So, the question is: who sets the rule of 2 per day?
Posted by: Monica | February 10, 2013 at 11:23 AM
Kaki there's no small limit to spinach feta. That's just not ordering enough.
Posted by: Barista Ben | February 10, 2013 at 03:04 PM
Its not like its a super fresh food item. It does not make sense that you can not walk in any time of the day and order one. I don't understand that at all.
Posted by: Justin | February 14, 2013 at 09:40 AM
The 2 per day limit is set by some higher power just above the scope of the CSR for each region. I once tried to explain to my CSR that we needed more than 2 per day and she informed me that I could get more... if I called her EVERY DAY before placing the order in our inventory system - except Saturday and Sunday of course, because those were her days off. The shortage is the result of a flaw in the (otherwise pretty amazing) IMS system. It's not a popular item therefore IMS registers it as a "markout opportunity," so the system automatically caps it at 2 or 4 or 10 per day. However, with breakfast sandwiches (and any other 2-day shelf life pastry) in order to be proactive, you must order twice the amount you'll sell in a day. This is where the flaw is. The system doesn't take into account shelf life. And if you're coming in on a Monday for you Veggie Artisan... well, our CSR was off on Saturday.
Posted by: TheOtherSideoftheCounter | February 28, 2013 at 02:24 AM
Unfortunately, due to the La Boulange merge, many Starbucks in Northern California are changing all of their pastry items to La Boulange, and for some reason, THOSE stores have discontinued the Veggie Artisan Sandwich, as well as the Chicken Wrap. I was greatly disappointed with the news as I would buy one myself almost everyday. It was my favorite item, and on of the only breakfast items I like. The only other one I somewhat like is the Chicken Sausage Wrap which is unfortunately going away too. This is only in some northern California stores right now, but I was told that Starbucks was planning to expand the La Boulange pastries across the country, which means no more veggie for good. Then I'll be truly sad.
Posted by: Yah, I'm a Baristaa | April 16, 2013 at 11:03 PM
It is worse than that. Starbucks has decided that "tier 3 stores" (smaller stores) CAN'T carry the veggie artisan sandwich. Customer service in Seattle has received complaints about this stupid decision by some high official in Seattle but little has been done! I have even heard customers ask "What does Starbucks have against vegitarians?" asked by some customers. I love this sandwich and have changed the store I visit as the one I like the best is NOT ALLOWED to carry the veggie sandwich!
Posted by: Mike Weimer | May 15, 2013 at 08:32 PM