Starbucks customers are devastated that the coffee chain has changed the recipe for its popular Reduced-Fat Turkey Bacon Breakfast Sandwich.
People are complaining online that the new turkey bacon in the sandwich tastes "rubbery" and resembles "cow tongue" and "old sponge." Several customers have questioned whether the meat is actually some sort of ham.
The sandwich is an updated version to an original favorite by the same name. Blogger Brittany Linville said she orders the turkey bacon sandwich most weekdays and that she asked for a refund upon discovering the new recipe.
"It's just not the same," she wrote in an open letter to Starbucks on her blog. "I thought I had gotten the wrong sandwich the first day, but I didn't have time to turn back. I took two bites and threw away the rest because it was gross. Then the next morning I looked at the sandwich before I drove away. I went back through the line and that's when I was told the sandwich changed."
Linville and others are begging the company to trash the new recipe and bring back the original, which had 90 more calories (320 total) than the new one.
Here's a sampling of the reviews:
@Starbucks Ordered a RF Turkey Bacon, got Ham instead..."Well, this is awkward," said all my taste buds in unison. ?? pic.twitter.com/c6yIfbRZrS
- Brittany Bishopp (@brittanybphoto) March 14, 2014
@Greenmarketguy @Starbucks I miss the dried out turkey bacon. The new tb is like cow tongue.
- Jay Denton (@jmdenton) March 14, 2014
@Starbucks - everyone hates your "new" turkey bacon ??
- Jacqueline Ortega (@Jacqueline__O) March 14, 2014
@Starbucks New turkey bacon sandwich = YUK! Threw it away. What was wrong with the old one??!! #mcmuffinfromnowon
- Carina Pierce (@carinapierce) March 15, 2014
Dear @Starbucks, the new modified Turkey Bacon Sandwich is a huge miss. Please bring back the original.
- Thom Daugherty (@ThomDaugherty) March 15, 2014
@Starbucks why did y'all change the turkey bacon sandwich? It use to be awesome now it's disgusting. #dissapointed
- Kelley Milburn (@Kripmil) March 14, 2014
#Starbucks changed their Reduced Fat Turkey Bacon breakfast sandwich. BAD call!!! The bacon is like a raw piece of yuck. Change it back!
- Jennifer Mays (@JeniferL02) March 13, 2014
The turkey bacon is rubbery. Nasty. Several employees have said to me "Everyone hates the new sandwich" @Starbucks needs a new focus group.
- BT (@BT) March 9, 2014
Dear @Starbucks, please bring back the original turkey bacon breakfast sandwich. The new one is a soggy hot lump of garbage. Thank you.
- Sean Skyler (@SeanSkyler) March 10, 2014
While most of the online reviews are pretty brutal, there are a few people who are happy about the change:
I'm in love with the new reduced fat turkey bacon breakfast sandwiches at Starbucks ????
- Natalie Potthoff (@NataliePotthoff) March 17, 2014
Whatever Starbucks has done to its turkey bacon sandwich, I like it. Also, this always makes me think of @RachaelRad
- Kimra (@kimretta) March 14, 2014
The original sandwich was made of reduced fat turkey bacon, an egg white patty with butter flavoring and white cheddar cheese on a multigrain English muffin.
The new sandwich is served on an organic wheat English muffin, excludes the butter flavoring and uses reduced fat white cheddar cheese, according to Starbucks spokeswoman Holly Hart Shafer. The company has also changed its source of turkey bacon, she said.
The revamped breakfast sandwich is part of a broader effort by Starbucks to make its food more nutritional, Shafer told Business Insider in an interview.
"We know it's a customer favorite so it's always hard to revisit that formula," she said. "People like what they are used to and I can totally understand that."
Shafer added that she regularly orders the turkey bacon sandwich and thinks it's a "tremendous step up" from the original.
While the feedback online has been pretty brutal, the company says it has been hearing mostly positive reviews about the sandwich.
"The customer and employee feedback we've received anecdotally thus far has been really positive, though I understand there's also a passionately vocal group online," Shafer said.
She encouraged customers who are unhappy with the sandwich to try some of Starbucks new breakfast sandwich options, including the ham and swiss cheese croissant and vegetable and fontiago sandwich.