85°C Bakery Cafe is a Taiwanese bakery chain that has made its way to have over 1,000 locations worldwide. The first US store opened in Irvine, California in 2008. Since then, 85°C Bakery Cafe, or 85 Degrees, has become a neighborhood staple for many Asian-American communities. With a variety of drinks, cakes, breads, and desserts on the menu, 85 Degrees has become THE place to meet with friends for hours, grab a quick coffee and go, or choose a delicious cake for a loved one's birthday. For me, 85 Degrees is the place where I can get my favorite boba drink in the world: The Sea Salt Jasmine Green Tea. It was also the place where I could get my favorite bread in the world: The Calamari Stick. Until now. The Calamari Stick has since been discontinued by 85°C Bakery Cafe. 

You may think the Calamari Stick sounds like a squid flavored breadstick. However, contrary to its name, the Calamari Stick is not a stick at all. The Calamari Stick was described on the 85 Degrees menu as "a delicate squid ink based bread with white mozzarella cheese inside and our signature garlic spread on top." Mouthwatering. The first time I tried it, I was skeptical. I am not a fan of fried calamari and I stay away from seafood in general. I thought it would taste fishy. But was I wrong! This small, black bun was something else. Sweet, soft, and savory, it was everything you could want in a bread. The garlic spread was subtle but it perfectly complimented the sweeter bread and the cheese inside. The Calamari Stick soon became my go to purchase at 85 Degrees. 

I remember the day I found out they discontinued the bread. I went up to an employee and asked where the delicious squid ink breads were after I could not find them, and he told me that they had been discontinued because they were not popular. I was shocked. I told my friends. They were shocked. I told my family. They were shocked as well. How could these magnificent, dainty, delightful delicacies NOT be popular? Going to 85 Degrees has not been the same since. 

Upon contacting 85°C Bakery Cafe, their customer service representative stated that "[the Calamari Stick] unfortunately was not performing well company wide and we regretfully needed to remove it for the time being. However, we have taken note of your suggestion and will keep it in mind as we continue to develop new products and relaunch old favorites." If the Calamari Stick was not performing well for the company, I suppose it was fiscally responsible to remove it from the menu.

At first, I thought my small circle and I were alone in our love for these breads. However, I did some research and found that the Calamari Stick was undoubtedly one of the most popular items on the menu. When you look at Yelp reviews for any 85 Degrees cafe, many reviews will mention the Calamari Stick (or as its more colloquially called: the squid ink bread) as one of their favorite breads to buy. When you google 85°C Bakery Cafe Calamari Bread, multiple websites report of store openings or cafe reviews and publish that the Calamari Stick is one of the breads to try. Some notable names are Thrillist, The Houston Press, 89.33 KPCC, LA Weekly, and more!

I don't know why the Calamari Stick's numbers were not performing well enough for 85°C Bakery Cafe. But the old adage rings true: You don't know what you have until its gone. I thought the Calamari Stick would always be in store for me. But now its not. Perhaps more people feel the same way. If you would like 85°C Bakery Cafe to bring back the Calamari Stick to stores, please sign this petition! If you've never eaten a Calamari Stick from 85 Degrees, please sign this petition as well, if only to be able to one day try this delicious little bread. 

In high school, I would drive to 85 Degrees to pick up a boba and leave with a bag full of these Calamari Breads to give to my friends. I hope that one day soon I will be able to drive to a nearby 85 Degrees to pick up boba and a bag of Calamari Breads again!

Let's show 85°C Bakery Cafe that bringing back the Calamari Stick will bring more success to the company and happiness to their customers!