What kind of sausage are you?

November 1, 2020 2:44 PM

I really like the sausage cheddar breakfast sandwiches at Starbucks. Does anyone know what kind of sausage they use?

The Starbucks website says that it's pork sausage but I'm hoping to narrow it down from there. Thanks!

posted by entropyiswinning to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

I think your best bet would be to ask someone at your closest Starbucks - they'd be able to tell you the brand name, probably (I'm assuming sbux doesn't make their own sausage). I doubt the brand of their sausage is a trade secret, so they would hopefully have no issue telling you what it is and who it's from.
posted by pdb at 2:53 PM on November 1, 2020

A lot of them are supplied by Premium Brands, via its 2010 purchase of SK Food Group.
posted by jedicus at 3:00 PM on November 1, 2020 [2 favorites]

Best answer: It's likely they use a sausage that's made for food service and not the retail market. However, the flavor profile is like most pork breakfast sausage patties with a bit more black pepper than usual.
posted by quince at 3:19 PM on November 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

Starbucks' sausage/cheddar/egg muffin sandwich had a recall for listeria contamination in 2016. This MSNBC article says the manufacturer at the time was Progressive Gourmet from Wilmington MA.

Following that trail...around that same time Progressive was acquired by Monogram Foods. This article from February 2020 seems to confirm that Monogram is still making product for SBUX.

You can probably contact Monogram and see if they can answer your question.
posted by mookoz at 6:34 PM on November 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Agree with quince, this is a foodservice product but also a pretty classic pork breakfast style sausage - I agree it is "kicked up" a bit more than most and can taste strong black pepper, maybe white pepper, cayenne, and sage. For a very similar flavor try Bob Evans breakfast sausage in the roll. You could even doctor it with your own extra spices.
posted by Miko at 5:17 AM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]