Woolworths has responded after shoppers expressed outrage over fears the iconic chocolate mud cake had fallen victim to a sneaky cost-cutting tactic, describing the move as the “final straw”.
The cake is known by some as the “cheap and dirty birthday pick up” and hailed by others as a delicious birthday staple. Regardless, debate among Australians usually rages about whether Coles or Woolworths has the best offering, but today shoppers have expressed their confusion over two different weighted products listed online and if this means the chocolatey slice is another example of ‘shrinkflation’ in supermarkets.
One lists the ‘Woolworths Cake Chocolate Mud’ at the “low price” of $6.40 and weighs in at 585 grams, the other ‘Woolworths Mud Cake Chocolate’, which is out of stock for this journalist, at 600 grams.
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A TikTok with almost 140,000 views issued an “emergency PSA” over the “travesty” and claimed the price had not been reduced despite the size change, with Aussies flocking to detail their “outrage” that the recipe may have been changed and intentions to “march at dawn”.
But it appears there is a simple explanation and Woolworths has set the record straight, revealing exactly why the two different weighted items are listed for the same price.
"Rest assured, our iconic chocolate mudcake formula has not undergone any changes,” a Woolworths spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.
"Depending on the location of stores and other various factors, customers shopping in-store or online will still experience the same mud cake recipe, just with slightly different packaging and mild variations of a cake finished with ganache and icing."
A Woolworths insider told Yahoo Finance this is actually the result of how big the supermarket is and whether there is a bakery in store.
“They are two different products. If there’s no bakery, it comes frozen and is just defrosted and put on shelves. That’s the 600 gram one. But if there is a bakery in store, like the bigger supermarkets, they decorate it by adding icing then pack it,” they said.
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An assessment of the two online listings appears to confirm the former worker's account, showing one with ganache and one without.
The formal confirmation has put this case to bed, but the “outrage”, however misplaced, may have revealed a fact you didn’t know. You might not have been eating the same cake as someone in a different area, or different store.
Supermarket blames 'rising costs' for price outrage
There was backlash last year when Coles and Woolworths confirmed they’d increased the price of the nostalgic treat.
The cake once cost $4.80, but jumped to $5.75 before landing at $6.40 in April.
“As a result of rising cost of raw materials and production, there have been some changes to the price of our Coles mud cakes," a Coles spokesperson told Yahoo.
"We know this is a popular product for our customers, and we do not take these price changes lightly."
You will see more on supermarkets today as Professor Allan Fels AO discusses the findings in the ACTU inquiry he chaired into price gouging and unfair pricing practices.
This is not to be mistaken with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) investigation into supermarket pricing announced by Anthony Albanese on January 25.
Coles and Woolworths have come under intense scrutiny as customers battle higher grocery prices at the checkout, while both supermarkets posted annual profits of more than $1 billion.
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