{"id":15797,"date":"2016-03-23T11:15:02","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T16:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burgersdogspizza.com\/?p=15797"},"modified":"2016-03-23T11:15:02","modified_gmt":"2016-03-23T16:15:02","slug":"thorntons-food-review-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/?p=15797","title":{"rendered":"Thorntons Food Review, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thorntons<\/a>The other day, I wrote about the new food offerings at Thorntons, a regional gas station chain, based out of Louisville. \u00a0I reviewed their pizza here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At many locations in the chain, they offer hot snacks in addition to the usual roller grill selections; snacks include breakfast biscuits and burritos, hamburgers, tenders, tater crowns and the like.<\/p>\n

Almost immediately after the post was up, I heard from the company’s PR firm<\/a>\u00a0(contact<\/a>), a small concern in Louisville, KY. They took a slight exception to my calling the food “heat and eat,” as the company markets the offerings as “Made Fresh.” \u00a0Some of the marketing states “Made Fresh In House,” and the website states<\/a>: \u00a0“Made Fresh Daily In the Store.” \u00a0There’s no mistaking what that last phrase says, but the first two could be open to some interpretation. \u00a0Further dissecting the website phrase, “Made Fresh,” to be sure, is pretty ambiguous, and I take a wee bit of exception to what exactly that phrase means.<\/p>\n

I’m not picking on Thorntons, particularly, the marketing arms of the entire food industry tend to play fast and loose with English these days, and consumers can suffer. \u00a0A lot of words, and terms, are used loosely and freely, without have a specific, defined direct meaning. \u00a0I hate it when that happens!<\/p>\n

Some examples:<\/p>\n

Free range, cage free, organic, all natural, additive free, farm fresh, and so on. \u00a0For specific foods, phrases like “Angus Beef,” \u00a0“Kobe Beef,” and “Champagne.” \u00a0For me, I guess, its the senior moment equivalent of yelling “hey you kids, get off of my lawn.” (Yes, I know that makes absolutely no sense).\"Thorntons<\/a><\/p>\n

Because I suppose most of America doesn’t care. It’s not like you’re going to whiz past a 7-Eleven and race to Thorntons because 7-Eleven does not have a banner in its store window saying that their sandwiches and pizzas are “Made Fresh in House.” \u00a0Are you? \u00a0(In fact, many of 7-Elevens cooler sandwiches are made by a division of Lufthansa, the German airline).<\/p>\n

No, we who partially exist on gas station food purchase primarily based on geographical convenience (“it’s here, I’m here, let’s eat), price, or selection variety). ‘Cause it comes down to personal taste, doesn’t it? \u00a0Hell, some people love Domino’s pizza.<\/p>\n

Apparently for some companies (and I’m not naming names), “Made Fresh in House” is \u00a0acceptable usage for pre-assembled food products, thawed or heated up in the store.<\/p>\n

Whereas to me “Made Fresh in House,” means raw ingredients are cooked, and assembled, in the store. \u00a0You know like, a) take pizza dough, b) slather on sauce and cheese, add\u00a0toppings c) bake.<\/p>\n

Today I tried the Thornton’s breakfast biscuit with bacon, egg and cheese. \u00a0It’s really no better or worse than any of the fast food biscuits. It’s cheaper, it\u00a0was $2.59 at my store – \u00a0 the area competitor’s\u00a0products ring up at:<\/p>\n