Good morning, everyone! I hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving, and (hopefully) a few days off! I got to enjoy time with my family in Tucson and stuffed myself, as expected, on Thursday with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and PIE! It was great!
What's NOT great is the legendary Bob Evans stuffing their mashed potatoes with allegedly sub-par
"butter." Bob Evans restaurants are a staple in the Midwest and Northeast. They're much beloved by locals, and no surprise, they sell their "food" in supermarkets around the country. Even though we don't have any Bob Evans restaurants in Arizona, you can still buy their taters here. I picked up their mashed potatoes one day because I had run out of Costco's Reser's Main Street microwaveable mashed potatoes, arguably the BEST microwaveable mashed potatoes on the PLANET! They're so good, people have recipes based on them. But, I digress . . . . One day, I picked up a pack of Bob Evans
mashed potatoes, "made with real butter," at my local grocery store. I came home, made dinner for me and my beautiful bride (kids were in bed, so it was date night at home), and expected yummy, tasty, creamy potatoes like I get from Costco. What I got was subpar taters, that weren't creamy, and most ended up in the trash. It was a disappointment. I know Reser's Main Street mashed potatoes are INCREDIBLE for tater lovers like myself, but Bob Evan's potatoes just weren't good, in my opinion. The class action touches on "why" Bob Evan's potatoes may not be so tasty. The "butter" they use appears to be more margarine than butter. Usually, butter is cream and a bit of salt, and that's it. But, in the case of Bob Evan's, it's not "butter," it's salt, soybean oil, canola oil, milk, "natural flavor" and monoglycerides. Hopefully, the
legendary Bob Evans empire will address the class action, and update their label or recipe, and take care of their extremely loyal customers. Maybe even add a restaurant in Phoenix? So many snowbirds and transplants from the Midwest would flock to it!
On the home front, the girls had a blast in Tucson. It's so tempting to move there with the mild weather, beautiful mountains, and evenings that get below 100 in the summertime! Being close to extended family would also be great, along with childhood friends who still live there, but I've become a BIG city boy! I love my highways taking me anywhere I want to go in a half hour or so. I love my studio I've built for remote
interviews (here's one where I discuss how WOOD CHIPS may be in your parmesan cheese). And of course, our girls (and my beautiful bride and I) have friends here. Maybe we'll just become snowbirds ourselves. That's the dream at least!
OK, on to some more lawsuit and settlement updates!
That’s all for now! Make it a GREAT week!
Warm Regards,
Scott Hardy
President & CEO