ChantillyCakeCrisis

Over the past few weeks, an unlikely source has stirred up a flurry of online interest and outcry, prompting reporting from the New York Times and drawing nearly 2 million views on social media. The culprit? A slice of Whole Foods Berry Chantilly Cake.

It began when a TikTok user asserted that the beloved dessert had recently undergone a recipe change, swapping fresh berries for a layer of jelly and whipped mascarpone for vanilla frosting. The video went viral, and soon hundreds of users were commenting with a wide variety of rumors and claims, including that the slices were discontinued or that the suppliers had changed. But the common theme of the comment thread was that Whole Foods customers were disappointed that their beloved dessert was just not the same.

The disappointment was apparently noticed by Whole Foods, as evidenced by a leaked (but unverified) Whole Foods employee memo instructing employees how to address customer questions about the cake. This led to another round of feedback from customers who took issue with the content of the memo (“The (sic) missed an opportunity to be heroes by just acknowledging the change, fixing it, announcing it was fixed” and “Corporate Gaslighting™️”).

Whole Foods also addressed customers directly on social media channels, offering various and seemingly contradictory responses on popular posts:

“Hi, our Berry Chantilly Cake is unchanged.”
“The cake is still here, we just wanted to introduce a new Chantilly flavor. We hope you like it.”
“We’ve recently updated our by-the-slice cake program. While the slices look different, they maintain the signature almond flavor and fluffy texture that you know and love from the OG.”

As the story gained steam on social channels, national media took interest, and a company spokesperson eventually confirmed to national outlets that changes had been made to align “the flavor profile, size, packaging, and price” of the cake slices nationwide.

As it turned out, these changes would be short-lived. Nearly as quickly as the new recipe was rolled out, Whole Foods reversed course: “the single slices are anticipated to go back to the way they were by the end of week.”

While we can’t weigh in on the flavor debate (individual slices were not available at Reevemark’s local Whole Foods at the time of publication), the situation demonstrates that communicating with an attentive, influential and connected customer base is not a piece of cake, and that a thoughtful and coordinated response plan is paramount. Here, we offer a few observations based on our experience with similar situations:

Avoid half-baked communications. While moving quickly to mitigate the spread of misinformation is important, coordination and consistency are critical. It may take longer than you’d like to investigate an issue or sync with your colleagues, but that extra time is well worth it and can prevent you from having to correct or walk back a statement or clarify discrepancies in your communications.
Prepare for leaks. Understand that internal documents are leaked to the media or on social channels all the time. And materials meant for one audience are often shared with others. While there may be nuances in how you communicate across different stakeholder groups, the core message should be consistent across channels and stakeholder groups. Any glaring differences in messages or tone across channels can jeopardize trust.
Get ahead of emerging issues. Be sure there is an open line of communication between customer-facing employees and your communications team to flag issues as they gain momentum in real time and ensure they have the customer feedback and operational intel they need to formulate a clear, helpful, consistent response.

It can be hard to predict what seemingly small matter (like a change in a cake recipe) will gain momentum and ultimately impact a brand’s value and reputation. Having a battle-tested crisis communications plan and experienced crisis communications team in place will help you to respond effectively so that you aren’t left with a sunken cake.