Are All Of Starbucks' Breakfast Sandwiches Really Premade?

While the vast majority of people head to their local Starbucks with the sole intention of getting their fill of caffeine (or a tasty, blended drink to brighten their day), Starbucks offers up hot breakfast items, too, for the people who arrive hangry. From bacon, gouda, and egg breakfast sandwiches to ciabatta stacked sky-high with turkey, provolone, and a quick swipe of pesto, surprisingly, the beloved coffeehouse's food offerings can be pretty tasty. Although it'll work awesome in a pinch, the thing that you need to keep in mind when you order is that the sandwiches there aren't fresh.

"Fresh" as in they weren't pieced together by the barista using custom ingredients à la Subway. A lot of former and current Starbucks baristas, via Reddit, have testified to this: The sandwiches are shipped pre-packaged to each joint every day. Then, when they're ordered, the baristas simply zap them up to temperature in the oven and serve them to you on a tray. Does that mean the sandwiches aren't tasty? No! While they surely aren't mind-blowingly good, most people who have ever tasted their paninis and various sandwiches will tell you that they work great as an emergency pick-me-up.

The reason the Starbucks sources pre-made sandwiches is simple: It's a coffeehouse first and foremost. While the food definitely boosts their bottom line, the sandwiches (and all the food items it offers,) aren't the main attraction of the brand. As such, rather than dealing with the immensely complex logistics of and investing a lot of big bucks into sourcing fresh ingredients and training baristas at nearly 17,000 Starbucks around the country to make sandwiches, they just outsource it to local catering companies. Every day, these companies ship batches of frozen, pre-made sandwiches to the Starbucks outlets near them. The same goes for salads, according to one Reddit comment. Pastries, on the other hand, are made at a central bakery (likely La Boulange, which Starbucks acquired some years ago and merged into its business).

With that in mind, the next time you order a fast sandwich, keep in mind that the baristas were simply re-heating what they're given. They cannot customize your sandwich with, say, a different kind of bread. The most they can help you with is by taking out ingredients you don't want. But when it comes to drinks, though? That's when you can ask for whatever style or ingredient you like, and they'll be more than happy to make a handcrafted drink for you.