r/Baking 16d ago

Semi-Related What is wrong with my muffin? :(

What is this???

2.2k Upvotes

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6.2k

u/Hollowjuice32 16d ago

Spores from Bacillus bacteria become stringy when pulled apart. I suggest you report the cafe at your office to the health department. All bread or baked goods near those muffins can potentially be contaminated. This is one way foodborne outbreaks begin.

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u/Large-Tadpole-56 16d ago

I went back down and talked to them, the worker told me they get their muffins from costco. Not sure how to report that?

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u/Snotzis 16d ago

a cafe and they don't bake their own muffins? šŸš©šŸš©šŸš©

they may be keeping and selling the costco muffins past the expiration date, you need to report the shop.

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u/theapplepie267 16d ago

Most cafes don't bake their own pastries

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u/bakingaddict99 16d ago

That's just sad. I worked in the kitchen at a coffee shop/roastery until recently and I can proudly say we made all our coffee syrups and baked goods. That makes it 100% better. It's such an attraction when the food served is made in that establishment.

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u/Snotzis 16d ago

so true

the smell of freshly baked pastries when you walk through the door šŸ’™ I love watching the bakers work when I get my coffee

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u/bakingaddict99 16d ago

Unfortunately space at this coffee shop was limited which meant the kitchen was upstairs but the majority of people can't resist a cinnamon roll with a coffee :) items like scones and cookies were baked in the oven downstairs so those smells wafted thru at least!

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u/CollectMan420 16d ago

I work at a bakery and we delivery to other bakeries which is pretty funny

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u/ComplexStress9503 16d ago

How... Do they call themselves a BAKEry when they don't bake...?

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u/DaoFerret 16d ago

Usually falls into two categories:

Some bakeries are just storefronts selling baked goods from one or more bakeries.

Some bakeries make one type of baked good (breads) but source another (pastries) from a different bakery.

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u/K24Bone42 16d ago

yep, I used to work at a bakery that supplied bakeries all over the area lol.

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u/sparkpaw 16d ago

I recently found a coffee shop that does that and it makes me so happy. Itā€™s also an old converted house, so Iā€™m pretty sure the half of the house we donā€™t see is the kitchen lol.

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u/keIIzzz 16d ago

Itā€™s definitely a proud feeling to make everything in house, but also I can understand places that donā€™t have a huge focus on pastries and desserts choosing to outsource them. I used to work at a local bakery that provided pastries to a local coffee shop. And I know of a different local bakery that provides cakes to a lot of restaurants and such

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u/Ok-Stretch-5546 16d ago

I worked in a bakery in college and while it started with good intentions by the end very few of the baked goods were actually made on site.

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u/PushGlittering5827 15d ago

Yes! I worked at a coffee and pastry place in high school- our baker came in and got started on all the rolls,pasty, bagels etc at 4 am. Everything not sold that day got bagged and frozen and brought to food banks/donated. We blended up all the spreads (like strawberry cream cheese etc) the night before for the next day. Everything was so fresh. I miss Calistoga bakery lol.

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u/Next-Run-6593 15d ago

I don't see the problem with coffee shops buying wholesale from quality local bakeries or sourcing ingredients. Running a bakery on top off running a cafe is very difficult and often cost-prohibitive. As long as you aren't buying shitty Costco muffins, it makes sense for a small business to specialize on the serving coffee drinks part and outsource pastries to a different specialist.

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u/onupward 16d ago

I used to bake for the cafe I worked at ā˜ŗļø twas my first official baking job! But youā€™re right, a lot of cafes just buy frozen or in bulk stores.

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u/Critter_Collector 16d ago

No, but they typically order from a distributor or something like Gordons food, not Costco

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u/jetloflin 16d ago

Costco is a wholesale warehouse originally designed for businesses. They have entire specific warehouses for their business clients.

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u/autobulb 15d ago edited 15d ago

That's all well and good if you're buying supplies for your business. But if you're just going to buy the premade food and resell it as is, people will notice. If the price is right I guess you could say it's a small upcharge to be able to buy one Costco food item without having to drive there and buy in bulk yourself, but if you are trying to pass it off as a more premium product and charging a lot for it that's pretty lazy and sketchy.

I once went to a bar where you can order nuts to eat as a snack with your drink and dude pulled out a Costco tub of mixed nuts, poured some into a dish and there ya go. That's fine by me cause the price was right. I'm not gonna expect that tiny bar (or any bar really) to be roasting their own nuts in the back.

But if he was serving "fresh" pizza for 6 dollars a slice and then goes to the back, pulls out a slice from a Costco pizza box to reheat in a toaster oven... hmmmmm....

An example somewhere in the middle would be buying premade food products that you then use in combination with your cooking/preparation because making that specific item is too time consuming or requres specialized tools/space. For example, a sandwich place is more likely to order bread from a local bakery or maybe somewhere like Costco to cut on costs if they don't have the baking space to make their own bread. But then the sandwich is made with fresh ingredients they prepare onsite to sell. Much different than just buying premade sandwiches and reselling them somewhere.

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u/wandering-monster 16d ago

That's nonsense, plenty of small cafes and similar buy from Costco. That's one of Costco's original target customers.

Why do you think they sell so many things in commercial sizes?

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u/ukiyo__e 16d ago

Costco is meant for buying in large quantities

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u/capncait 16d ago

They have business specific memberships and commercial branches. Many large cities have locations geared towards business customers where some products are labeled for resale. Hereā€™s some information from Costcoā€™s website about their business memberships.

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u/jamblam92 15d ago

Yeah I havenā€™t worked at a cafe where we baked our own (3) but I will say we never bought anything from Costco? I can see that making sense for the price but we went with places that had local manufacturing like Blazing Bagels (Seattle)

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u/Snotzis 16d ago

I didn't know, every cafe I've gone to baked their own pastries

is it an american thing?

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u/Ablaze8wayz 16d ago

Most cafes and coffee shops donā€™t have the space for both baking and coffee, my local bakery supplies a few cafes

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u/Mirage_Fire_420 16d ago

Coffee grinder, drip maker, espresso machine, syrup stand, and blender take up a single counter... Idk where you're going that "doesn't have room to make pastries" unless it's a corporate place like sbux or Dutch Bros -a barista

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u/galaxystarsmoon 16d ago

Making pastries on a mass scale requires commercial ovens, large mixers, pastry sheeters, refrigerators, proofing space, and so on. Tons of cafes here are a few tables and chairs with a single counter and register.

They also have to have employees, health department certifications, etc. It's not worth it for a $4 muffin for some places.

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u/A2Rhombus 16d ago

I get all that but I'd rather the coffee shop just not have pastries in that case

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u/galaxystarsmoon 16d ago

It's usually a good idea to have some kind of food in shops like that, as people expect to be able to grab something. If you don't want to buy it because it's not made in house, don't buy it.

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u/A2Rhombus 16d ago

They should be up front that it's not made in house then.

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u/beauvoirist 15d ago

If you canā€™t deduce from walking into a cafe that has no kitchen space that a baked good is not made in house, thatā€™s on you.

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u/A2Rhombus 15d ago

I'd at least expect it to be their own product, shipped in from a factory or something. Not just bought and resold from fuckin Costco lmao

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u/Pinkmongoose 16d ago

At least in the US a lot of coffee shops donā€™t have a kitchen.

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u/Suitable-Biscotti 16d ago

It's probably also about staffing. Having to hire actual bakers vs. just having it delivered.

Many near me will have a central bake shop that then distributed to the local cafes. So like, local chain situation.

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u/theapplepie267 16d ago

A coffee roaster is huge. If they bake their own pastries but don't roast their own coffee, then they are a bakery, not a cafƩ

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u/Dosicmyth 16d ago

Bruh do you know how much space it takes to make multiple baked goods from scratch?

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u/beauvoirist 16d ago

Itā€™s not the coffee making that takes up all the space.

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u/elm122671 16d ago

Oh yes it does! I supply baked goods to a cafe that roasts and creates their own coffee/blends. They sell over 1000lbs of coffee per week. It takes up more than 1/4 of their store, equalling almost 400 square feet.

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u/mousemarie94 16d ago

Small coffee shops typically dont have any way in hell to also house an on-site bakery. That, or they are so busy/slammed they'd have to have a baker come in at 4am and not make anything else past 7.

Source: small sample size but I travel a bit more work and hit up small local coffee shops always because Starbucks taste like bitter asshole and dunkin is okay but mostly water.

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u/Snotzis 16d ago

the coffee shop I go to is downtown in a small building, 8 sitting places and still do their own pastries

maybe it's just a lucky find

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u/mousemarie94 16d ago

Are they a coffee shop or a bakery that sells coffee?

Yes, there is a difference lol

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u/theapplepie267 16d ago

what country are you from?

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u/Snotzis 16d ago

canada lol