All hell has broken loose in a small Italian town after a coffee shop began charging customers who wanted their pastries cut in half.
The Patisserie Audrey café in the town of Oderzo, in the northern region of Veneto, has been making traditional cornetti and brioches for generations.
Known variously as a brioche or cornetto, and resembling an enormous croissant, the pastry is often filled with either Chantilly cream, pistachio or hazelnut spread, or apricot and mixed berries.
However, the croissant controversy began earlier this month when a visitor to the café said she had been charged extra after she asked for her pastry to be cut in half so she could share it with her mother.
The woman posted a picture of the receipt online showing that an extra €0.10 (£9p) charge had been added to her bill for cutting the €1.50 (£1.30) pastry in half. “It’s not about the cost, it’s the principle,” she said.
was picked up by other users on social media who expressed outrage over the charge, with one saying: “€0.10 what a disgrace… just to cut a croissant!!!”
The huge artisan brioche from Patisserie Audrey in Oderzo, Veneto (Photo: Audrey Fant)Oderzo locals are split on the charge, with some saying it is reasonable to charge more for good-quality pastries, and those who see it as a rip-off.
“I don’t think it’s fair asking for even just 10 per cent of something which is already included in the price”, said Paolo Trevisan, a retiree with a sweet tooth who lives in the countryside around Oderzo. “It’s like if you order a pizza margherita and you get charged extra for the tomato, the basil and mozzarella, which are in fact its key ingredients.”
One Oderzo resident, Angela Rossi, on the other hand, said: “Everyone nowadays charges a fee for extra amounts requested, it’s the norm. In many ice cream parlours whipped cream costs 50 cents, so what’s the big deal?”
She added that as long as the customer had been informed and knew that he or she would be paying a little extra, no one should complain.
Audrey Fant, the owner of Patisserie Audrey, located on Oderzo’s main piazza, has defended herself against the backlash, telling The i Paper she had been fed up by people making similar requests.
“An anonymous angry lady, who had come here to buy the split pastry for her mother, later posted the bill on social media where it showed the extra 10 cent charge, venting out her anger. She didn’t even have the guts to come talk to me”, Mrs Fant, who still runs the pastry shop alongside her son, told The i Paper.
Mrs Fant admitted that on the day she decided to charge the extra 10 cents, she made the mistake of adding the extra fee to the price list on a whim, saying she had been fed up with what had become a customary request among clients.
“I woke up in the morning and I felt really nervous that many clients would take advantage of my generosity and ask to cut their big-size brioche in half, so to get double the amount of filling. That also meant serving it on a plate with a knife and fork, so extra cost and service work for us”, said Mrs Fant. “I was tired of this habit.”
square EXPATS We swapped a two-bed London flat for an Italian villa – saving £400 a month
Read More
She admitted she should have informed customers of the charge, rather than just write the new extra charge on the pastry price list. However, she emphasised that customers were paying for premium ingredients and high-quality dough.
The pastry made at Audrey’s is a king-size cornetto prepared with “butter instead of lard as most other pastry shops do”, said Mrs Fant. All fillings were made of Italian ingredients such as premium hazelnut spread and pistachio from Sicily, she added.
“If people want good-quality brioches they should pay for our artisan work and any extra fillings they want. After all, it’s just 10 cents. Most pastry shops in town charge up to 50 cents for double cream.”
There have been other instances of establishments elsewhere in Italy charging people extra to cut food in half that have made national press, including Bar Pace by Lake Como which charged €2 (£1.70) to cut a sandwich in half in 2023.
A few pastry shops in Oderzo contacted by The i Paper refused to comment or confirm they charged any extra fee for their cornetti and brioches.
Mrs Fant said that having been initially upset about the incident, she had since been happily surprised because it had brought her shop into spotlight, drawing more clients eager to taste her giant pastries and willing to pay the extra 10 cents.
“The local traders’ lobby has sided with me, defending my high-quality artisan brioches. I should thank that anonymous complainer, she brought me publicity”, said Mrs Fant.
Hence then, the article about the italian pastry war that sent croissant lovers into meltdown was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The Italian pastry war that sent croissant lovers into meltdown )
Also on site :
- Retired Gen. Wesley Clark tangled up in a crypto fraud suit with Burning Man buddies
- My Friend Invited Us for Dinner. When She Greeted Us at the Door, She Asked for Something Shocking.
- Iconic '80s Boy Band Impresses With 'Amazing' Live Performance