At some point, it is a more economical option to just make coffee and pastry's at home.
There is no economy of scale under this inflationary environment that would benefit from continued purchases.
As for pastries, toast on homemade bread has no competition.
Quality and taste was much better back then.
Now everything is made at scale with industrial ingredients, frozen, and mass distributed.
Of course it was. I make much better coffee at home than I could get at Starbucks. For me it's about something else: hanging out with friends or working on my laptop in an environment that's more interesting that my room or office. This is what I pay $10 of $11 for. (But admittedly, this happens rarely these days.)
I used to sometimes work at a Starbucks and buy sweets to bring home, since I don't drink coffee. I don't buy sweet treats since discovering they're actually frozen/thawed.
Hey, as long as you cook it before they hatch, what's the harm ;)
But why, though? Are they less delicious? Less convenient? Obviously not. Do you think the freezing/thawing process destroys the nutrition? Seems unlikely, since they aren't exactly a health food to begin with.
It was a dubious value at $5 or whatever per slice when I thought it was at least fresh. Knowing it was not remotely fresh, it was a clear loser in my book.
Profit makes way for survival.