Sensory Test ReportProject № 795Field date · 27 Apr 2026
Vol. 1 / Issue 01
A new bread walks into Einstein's.
Forty-five respondents (survey window: 8:06 AM – 12:31 PM Mountain — before bread ran out). Three sandwich fillings. One bread that isn't a bagel — and a customer base that brought up that fact, unprompted, in nearly every other conversation. Here's what they said.
45/48
Completed Surveys
68%
Bread Sentiment Score
3.40/5
Avg Bread CSAT · n=138
$6.14
Avg Expected Price
§ 01
Overall sentiment, on a curve.
Aggregated CSAT across all bread-specific turns — first reaction, expectations, texture, density, and head-to-head comparisons. Methodology re-uses the 1-to-5 inferred CSAT score automatically attached to every customer reply about the bread.
A measured yes. The bread reads as pleasant — soft, light, fresh — but rarely thrills, and every conversation lives in the long shadow of the bagel.
Of 138 inferred CSAT signals tied to bread questions, 61% landed at 4 or above; 23% landed at 2 or below. Net Promoter, on the same content, averaged 6.5/10 — firmly in passive territory.
Said differently: customers don't dislike the bread. They just keep asking why it isn't a bagel.
§ 02
Where the answers landed.
Distribution of all 138 inferred CSAT scores from bread-specific turns.
1
31
22
80
4
1Very negative
2Negative
3Neutral
4Positive
5Very positive
§ 03
Three fillings. Three sentiments.
Sandwich choice on the left; bread sentiment on the right. The same loaf, three audiences, three slightly different verdicts.
Filling distribution
Avocado Smashn = 1635.6%
Chipotle Mayo & Chorizon = 1431.1%
Bacon, Egg & Cheesen = 920.0%
Unspecifiedn = 613.3%
Bread sentiment by filling
Bacon, Egg & Cheesen=9 · 25 pts
3.60/5
Avocado Smashn=16 · 53 pts
3.49/5
Chipotle & Chorizon=14 · 39 pts
3.33/5
Unspecifiedn=6 · 21 pts
3.05/5
All Respondentsn=45 · 138 pts
3.40/5
A small surprise: Bacon, Egg & Cheese eaters were the most enthusiastic — the audience most accustomed to a bagel rated the new bread highest. Avocado Smash close behind. Spread across fillings is a meaningful 0.55 pts.
§ 04
Would you pick this over a bagel?
The most direct head-to-head question in the survey. The bread wins by a small but real margin overall — until you split by who's holding what.
vs. an Einstein's bagel
All Respondentsn = 41 · 4 unclear
YES · 21
NO · 16
±4
Avocado Smashn = 14
YES · 8
NO · 5
±1
Chipotle & Chorizon = 14
YES · 8
NO · 5
±1
Bacon, Egg & Cheesen = 8
YES · 3
NO · 3
±2
YesNoMaybe / depends
vs. English muffin · croissant · biscuit · toast
All Respondentsn = 36
YES · 24
NO · 9
±3
The story flips when the bagel leaves the room. Against the broader breakfast-bread universe — English muffin, croissant, biscuit, plain toast — the new bread wins decisively (67% Yes, 25% No).
The takeaway
This bread isn't a bagel substitute — it's a different category. Pitched against the right peer set, it reads as a clear preferred choice.
§ 05
How customers describe the texture.
Free-text answers to "how would you describe the texture?" Unprompted word frequency, sized by mention count.
The texture vocabulary is unusually consistent across all three fillings. "Light" and "chewy" together account for ~80% of all texture words used.
§ 06
What customers expect to pay.
Free-form pricing question, dollars. Thirty-eight respondents named a number; mean is $6.14, median is $6.00. Avocado Smash buyers expect to pay over a dollar more than Bacon, Egg & Cheese buyers.
1
3
14
7
9
3
0
1
$3$4$5$6$7$8$9$10$11+
$6.14Mean
$6.00Median
$3.50Lowest
$10.00Highest
38Responses
Mean expected price by filling
Avocado Smashn=13
$6.80
Chipotle & Chorizon=13
$5.92
Bacon, Egg & Cheesen=8
$5.69
§ 07
The portable-breakfast test.
"Could you eat this in the car or walking around?" The answer was nearly unanimous: yes.
Could eat on the go?n = 22 (asked of subset)
YES · 18
±4
Customers consistently described the sandwich as holding together well, not messy, and bite-sized. Where messiness was reported, the bread was almost never the culprit — it was the filling.
When the sandwich was messy — bread or filling?
13
said the filling
0
said the bread
When asked "was that the bread or the filling?", every single respondent who answered blamed the filling. Not one customer pointed to the bread.
§ 08
Who's the audience?
Self-reported breakfast-sandwich frequency from the 44 respondents who answered.
Weekly20 respondents
45%
Monthly18 respondents
41%
Rarely5 respondents
11%
Other / unclear1 respondent
2%
Eighty-six percent of respondents grab a breakfast sandwich at least monthly. This is not a niche audience — this is the core breakfast-sandwich customer telling Einstein's that the new bread is fine, but they came in expecting a bagel.
§ 09
In their own words.
Standout positive and negative reactions to the bread, by sandwich. Top citation = highest CSAT in that filling; bottom = lowest.
Avocado Smash · n=16
3.49 avg CSAT
"I LOVE THE BREAD I AM A BREAD GIRL!!"
Most positive · CSAT 4.3
"The bread is great! I was expecting a bagel but this is easier to bite."
CSAT 4.0
"It was average."
CSAT 2.0
"Looks very plain."
CSAT 2.0
Chipotle Mayo & Chorizo · n=14
3.33 avg CSAT
"I like the soft but chewy texture of the bread."
Most positive · CSAT 4.5
"Loved it! Perfect size, crispy in all the right places and easy to bite into."
CSAT 4.3
"It's not a bagel with a hole."
Most negative · CSAT 2.0
"It's good but not the green chili bagel like on the menu."
CSAT 2.5
Bacon, Egg & Cheese · n=9
3.60 avg CSAT ↑ HIGHEST
"Soft and tasty. Nice change from a regular bagel."
Most positive · CSAT 4.0
"I liked the bread."
CSAT 4.0
"Good but I prefer it on a bagel."
CSAT 3.5
"It wasn't as good tasting as the normal bagels. But it was soft, which was good!"
Most negative · CSAT 3.0