By Jane Anderson,
About.com Guide
July 8, 2013
Rumors that coffee chain Starbucks will soon be adding new gluten-free pastries seem to be swirling right now, with several baristas in various Starbucks both on the East and West coast telling me they expect the stores to receive better gluten-free options this fall.
But are the rumors true, or are the baristas mistaken? Unfortunately, that’s not clear at all.
Last month, Starbucks bought La Boulange Bakery for $100 million, and announced it would use the bakery in part to provide its coffee shops with “a variety of classic French offerings,” including croissants, “loaves” (muffins, sort-of) and cookies. Starbucks is rolling out these new options from west to east, beginning in San Francisco and Seattle.
The announcement of the new agreement doesn’t mention anything about gluten-free pastries, and it doesn’t appear that La Boulange Bakery has been particularly gluten-free-friendly to date.
But that could change … and may in fact be changing, based on some of the rumors. For example, Starbucks blogger StarbucksMelody, who attended a tasting of the new La Boulange pastries, talks about gluten-free pastries at Starbucks as a done deal, with plans in the works for “something like a 5-layer cookie bar, a lemon bar, an oat bar, and a new recipe marshmallow-rice square.”
However, I checked in with a corporate spokesperson for Starbucks, and she wouldn’t confirm any new gluten-free plans. “We are looking into gluten-free options for our customers, but have nothing to share at this time,” she told me late last week.
Starbucks competitor Dunkin’ Donuts announced two weeks ago that it will be introducing gluten-free muffins and donuts across the U.S. later this year. Dunkin’ Donuts is doing it right, with those muffins and donuts protected from gluten cross-contamination and certified gluten-free.
It would be wonderful if Starbucks opted to introduce gluten-free options at its stores — at the moment, our only snack option in the stores I frequent is a Kind bar (even the Starbucks-brand chips and chocolate bars carry “may contain traces of wheat” warnings).
Starbucks in the United Kingdom carries gluten-free brownies, so I don’t understand why it’s taking so long for Starbucks in this country to get on board. But I also hope that, if Starbucks does introduce gluten-free pastries, the company will take great care to protect them from cross-contamination (just as Dunkin’ Donuts is doing), so that those of us who are more sensitive to trace gluten can enjoy them, too.
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