Coles cracks secret code for customers on bakery items

A common feature on a beloved supermarket item has stumped shoppers, with the chain swooping in to clear up confusion.

A common feature on a beloved bakery item at Coles has stumped shoppers and ignited debate on social media.

A Reddit user took to the forum platform to share a photo of a Custard Pull Apart from the supermarket chain’s bakery section. But it was the letters “SC” underneath the product description that caused confusion.

“What does SC on bakery items mean,” the Reddit user asked.

Many weighed in, sharing bizarre and wild theories as to what they believed the initials stood for.

“As someone who works in the medical field, my first thought was ‘subcutaneous’ lmao,” one person commented.

Another social media user added: “You’d have to scratch yourself pretty hard to make that.”

“Sick customer,” another joked.

A Reddit user took to the forum platform to share a snap of a Custard Pull Apart from Coles’ bakery section. Picture: Reddit

“Soooo custardy,” one joked.

Someone else added: “It means stop shopping at Coles.”

“Support centre,” another quipped.

One was more interested in why their local store didn’t stock the popular item, commenting: “Yum lad, how do I get my Coles to sell this.”

But the supermarket giant has since cleared up any confusion surrounding the letters.

“If there is one thing we all love, it’s a reddit mystery! Those reddit-sleuths in the comments had it half right – the ‘SC’ is simply an internal code for our team which means it’s baked in store,” a Coles spokesperson told news.com.au.

“But here’s a fun twist: just because a product doesn’t have a code, doesn’t mean it’s not baked in store!

“We have some bakery products that are only made from scratch in-store, so there is no need for the ‘SC’ code. We only use the ‘SC’ code on those products which could be baked in store OR parbaked before being delivered to the store before its final bake.

“Regardless of whether it’s baked from scratch in-store, or parbaked ahead of time, you can rest assured that our behind-the-scenes bakers have spent hours making sure to get the recipes just right!”

Coles cleared up the baked item confusion.

It comes after Coles chief executive officer, Leah Weckert, revealed that the chain’s sales data showed that for the first three months of the year customers cut back on treats such as lollies and alcohol, and reduced their meat intake. Bottled water was also ditched.

She also said customers were also looking for heavily discounted stock to buy when doing their weekly shop.

“Our most popular and well-performing specials would be the ones that are 40 to 50 per cent off,” Ms Weckert said.

“We have announced big promotions that are really relevant to customers instead of lots of small ones.”

Ms Weckert said prices of health and home category products dropped during the period, while coffee and cocoa prices rose as shoppers prepared for Easter.

Overall, prices rose 1.5 per cent across the supermarket. Excluding tobacco, supermarket inflation was 1.1 per cent.

“Continued increases in livestock costs impact inflation in meat, particularly across the lamb, pork and poultry categories,” Ms Weckert said.

“Inflation, excluding tobacco and fresh, moved into deflation at -0.3 per cent, with deflation in the health and home category offsetting continued inflation across categories impacted by higher coffee and cocoa prices, such as confectionery, boxed chocolates and coffee.”

Originally published as Coles cracks secret code for customers on bakery items