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Tesco to stop selling curved croissants

Fiddly crescent-shaped croissants will soon be a thing of the past for the supermarket giant as it announces it will only sell straight ones

Kayleigh Lewis
Thursday 18 February 2016 11:42 EST
Comments
Sacre bleu!
Sacre bleu!

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British shoppers have rang the death knell for many a curved croissant, rejecting them in favour of their straight alternatives due to something called “the spreadability factor”.

From tomorrow, Tesco, which currently produces one million own-brand crescent-shaped croissants, will only be selling straight ones.

Despite boulangeries selling the traditionally-shaped pastry since at least the 13th century, Tesco shoppers have spoken, and they feel that straighter croissants are “more sophisticated” and of “better quality”, but that’s not all.

Harry Jones, Tesco’s croissant buyer, explained: “After demand for crescent shaped croissants started falling, we spoke to our customers and nearly 75 per cent of them told us that they preferred straight ones.

“At the heart of the move away from curved croissants is the spreadability factor.”

He continued: “The majority of shoppers find it easier to spread jam, or their preferred filling, on a straighter shape with a single sweeping motion.

“With the crescent shaped croissants, it’s more fiddly and most people can take up to three attempts to achieve perfect coverage, which increases the potential for accidents involving sticky fingers and tables,”

Social media users were quick to comment on the announcement:

Some pointed out that the very name croissant means crescent in French:

And other users were more cynical about the reasons behind the decision:

Although the croissant is widely associated with France, it is said to have originated in Austria in the 13th century where it was known as a kipferl.

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