Confirming what we reported last week, Starbucks announced this morning that it’s changing how its members earn loyalty rewards points in its My Starbucks rewards program: instead of earning a star per every transaction on anything you buy — food, coffee, mugs, etc. — starting in April, members will earn two stars for each dollar they spend. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Canned Green Beans Recalled After Church Group Finds Snake Head
By 2.22.16 — Updated: 4.9.17
A church youth group in Utah was cooking meals for the seniors of their community when they found an unexpected ingredient: their leader found a snake’s head among the green beans. The company, Western Family, a supplier of store-brand products, has now announced a recall of that lot of beans, since no customer wants to find the rest of that snake. [More]
It Looks Like Starbucks May Be Changing How Customers Earn Loyalty Program Rewards Points
By 2.19.16
UPDATE #2: And there we have it. Starbucks confirmed the changes Monday morning during a phone call with press and investors, and the new system will be exactly what we thought it would be. [More]
CVS Customer Buys Heating Pad, Finds Box Full Of Family Keepsakes Instead
By 2.19.16
Usually when we write about someone getting home to find out that the item they just purchased contains something unexpected, it involves an iPad box full of notepads or rocks, or a block of wood instead of a PS4. But a CVS customer in Boston got a more intriguing surprise inside her heating pad box: someone else’s family keepsakes. [More]
Jewel-Osco Pulls House Brand Of Grated Cheese Over Wood Pulp Concerns
By 2.19.16
As reports spread of federal regulators cracking down on Parmesan cheese products that contain a bunch of a wood pulp and other fillers, one national grocery chain says it’s pulling its house brand of grated cheese from shelves amid concerns about the food additive. [More]
Maple Syrup Producers Want The FDA To Crack Down On Products With “Maple” On The Label
By 2.17.16
Though you might know that not all breakfast syrups are created equal the folks who produce maple syrup say it isn’t clear that some “maple” flavored food products don’t contain the real thing, despite their labels. [More]
White Tablecloth & Bottle Of Wine Turned Couple’s Taco Bell Meal Into Valentine’s Love Feast
By 2.16.16 — Updated: 2.14.17
Depending on your point of view, this is either the classiest Taco Bell meal ever, or a cheapo way of getting out of making a Valentine’s Day dinner reservation. [More]
Grated Cheese Cops Want To Protect Us All From Parmesan Full Of Cheddar And Wood
By 2.16.16
As people who enjoy being alive and healthy, perhaps we should be glad that the Food and Drug Administration, regulators of our country’s pantries and medicine cabinets, prioritizes risks to our health over things that may be inaccurate or misleading but that ultimately don’t harm us. Unfortunately, that means that we’ve all been eating a lot of wood-infused grated cheese that sometimes isn’t even the type of cheese advertised. [More]
House Passes Bill Weakening Rules For Menu Calorie Counts In Restaurants
By 2.12.16
Hey, remember how the Food and Drug Administration gave restaurants a yearlong extension on the deadline for getting their act together regarding calorie counts on menus nationwide? They were supposed to get their acts together and post that information on menus nationwide by December of this year. Now, though, a new bill passed in the House of Representatives seeks to change that before eateries are forced to comply. Which wouldn’t be for another few years. [More]
Of Course Everyone Wanted To See Burger King’s Hot Dog Training Video Starring Snoop Dogg
By 2.12.16
Call us cynical, but we’re pretty sure that Burger King’s new Grilled Dogs training videos were never intended as an “internal use only” tool to train employees on how to top and sell the chain’s new grilled hot dogs. The company claims that once word got out that the videos existed, the public clamored to see them. It’s believable that people wanted to see the videos, but maybe less believable that this wasn’t their plan all along. [More]
$70K Worth Of Stolen Cheese Wasting Away In WI Landfill, Fate Of $90K Worth Of Parmesan Still Undecided
By 2.11.16
Cross your fingers, my fellow dairy lovers: the fate of $90,000 worth of innocent Parmesan is hanging in the balance. [More]
Why Do New Starbucks Drinks Have ‘Chocolatey’ Chips, Not Chocolate?
By 2.10.16
Starbucks introduced a new lineup of seasonal drinks this week, which are chocolate-flavored for Valentine’s Day. Sounds romantic. Yet reader Kelly noticed something when reading a news article about them: the drinks were described as containing “chocolatey chips,” but why not chocolate chips? What makes the chips not chocolate? [More]
Burger King Grills Up Some Hot Dogs, Adds Them To The Permanent Menu
By 2.10.16
Hot dogs aren’t currently part of the fast-food menu at major chains, though you can get them at smaller chains like DQ and Sonic. Both Burger King and McDonald’s have experimented with them in the past, and we’ve heard that Burger King has been testing them in a few markets since last spring. The test was apparently a success, and Burger King is adding hot dogs to the permanent menu later this month. [More]
Walgreens Installing Drug Disposal Kiosks In 500 Stores
By 2.10.16
Do you have old and expired medicine just sitting in your medicine cabinet and you’re not quite sure how to get rid of it? Walgreens is installing kiosks in 500 stores in the hope of giving customers a way to quickly and easily dispose of their unused drugs.
[More]
Lawyer Bombarded With Errant Texts Demanding Free Chipotle Burritos
By 2.9.16
On one end of the wrong-number spectrum is the lawyer who still gets calls and texts intended for Sir Mix-A-Lot, on the other end is the D.C.-area attorney who received some 300 text messages yesterday from people seeking free burritos from Chipotle. [More]
Police: Burger King Worker Tried To Arrange Robbery At Her Own Store
By 2.9.16
From time to time a would-be robber gets the idea that the best way to get away with a bunch of cash is to steal from a place they know inside and out, like their current or former employer. A Pennsylvania Burger King employee apparently took that idea and made it her own by cooking up a plan to get someone else to rob the restaurant where she worked. [More]
Don’t Like Your Papa John’s Pizza? Tell The Company Why, And Get Another One For Free
By 2.8.16
What’s a pizza-loving person to do when the pie they ordered turns out to be a disappointment? After you’ve flung the offending pizza against the wall, that is? Papa John’s says it wants to turn those frowns upside down, by guaranteeing that customers will love their pizzas — and if not, they can get another one for free. [More]
Chipotle’s Closed Today, But You Can Get A ‘Raincheck’ Free Burrito… Or A Deal From Competitors
By 2.8.16
Burrito lovers have had weeks to prepare for the hours-long closure of Chipotle restaurants today, and in that time several competing fast Mexican chains have promoted special offers for the lunchtime crowd. But it looks like Chipotle may also have a deal for its temporarily abandoned customers: a raincheck for a free burrito. [More]
