Houston’s Fluff Bake Bar Responds to Yelp With a Special Bake Sale March 18th @10am

@10amby Steven Doyle       photos courtesy of Fluff Bake Bar Facebook

Fluff Bake Bar in Houston has garnered plenty attention in the past year. In Dallas you most likely have met the owner Rebecca Masson, the super tenacious and talented pastry chef who spreads her love across the country attending many food and wine events to promote her bakery in Houston. She can be found at Chefs for Farmers and other major food festivals, but also works the circuit of events across the country.She will be featured at Aaron Franklin’s Hot Luck new event in Austin, Texas May 18-21 this year.

We have written about this marvelous bakery in the past because it is just that good.

Most weeks chef Masson hosts one of her chef buddies at a special bake sale. This past weekend FT33’s Matt McCallister was seen at Fluff Bake Bar offering breakfast in support of the bakery. This is very common, and for those in that area, you are extremely fortunate.

So all this love aside, why are a handful of Yelpers upset with this adorable red Mary Jane wearing pastry chef? Life can be so confusing for those who Yelp, especially with a select group who might not understand how a restaurant works. Or how Yelp works.

The information relayed on Yelp are all user generated, which means that not all the information is necessarily correct, and only the restaurant owner can respond directly. It is all unverified and up to the reader to decide on the accuracy. Case in point is Nick M. who decided that he would check in at Fluff for their delicious cannolis. According to Nick M. Fluff Bake Bar has the 8th best cannoli in the greater Houston area, so he decided to drive 25 minutes for this cannoli. The truth is that Fluff may have delicious pastries but a cannoli has never been one of them. Ever. So Nick M. left the bakery upset that he didn’t choose cannoli 1 through 7 instead of the 8th best, and blasted Masson personally for the error.

Then there was the woman who enjoyed the bakery until she decided that there was 3/4 of a cup of butter in each cupcake, the cupcake called the Veruca Salt (a nod to the precocious child featured in the Willy Wonka film).  Merideth S. went on to state that if you consumed that much butter in one dessert you need your head examined, and that she was shocked that people would knowingly consume that much “butter, or margarine or lard”. In fact the cupcake itself is made with grapeseed oil. Only the buttercream frosting contains butter, and in far less proportions claimed by the irate Merideth S..  However, you would hope that buttercream contains its namesake ingredient – butter.

There are a few other unusual Yelp reviews, such as the woman who gave Fluff Bake Bar four stars for their hot veal sandwich which in actuality also doesn’t exist. Or the angry man who claims using fun breakfast cereal in a pastry is childish. And the woman who accused Masson of using hate as an ingredient. The latter spawned a tongue-in-cheek t-shirt that is flying off the shelves, extolling the fact that hate is indeed an ingredient.

That is Masson’s only response to these unusual Yelpers, until tomorrow.

“When I read the Yelp reviews, I look at them as objectively as I can. Everyone tells me not to read them, but I want to get a feel on what the consumer feels about Fluff. It’s hard not to take it personally. After a while, you become numb to it. But some of them are off the wall ridiculous and as you have seen I respond in the most ridiculous way. Almost a passive aggressive f*ck you because that’s how I see their review. I think if you truly have an issue, you should just come up to the counter and say something. I can’t fix it when you leave the store,” Masson told us this afternoon.

Thus a special Yelp-inspired bake sale scheduled for tomorrow morning. All the items in question, items for the most part never existed such as the cannoli and the veal sandwich will all be offered to appease their Yelping audience.

“The whole bake sale idea came up after the cannoli review. Folks were encouraging the idea. So, I thought hey, let’s do it. The t-shirt was just a bonus. That particular review happened about a year ago. We created the “jar of hate” (a jar filled with sprinkles) and have made the joke we bake with hate. I always joked that a t-shirt would be funny. I wasn’t sure how folks would take it… it could have gone south really quick. But overall, the response has been amazing and very supportive. I appreciate all the love our loyal clients have shown and I am super excited for tomorrow, Masson added.

Did Masson invite the Yelpers in question?

“I sent a private message to Nick, inviting him. He said he might just come. I’ll shake his hand and say thank you. He helped create this amazing thing.”

And Nick M. will finally get his cannoli.