Are you sitting down? Do you have a nice, steaming hot bowl of mac and cheese in front of you, either homemade (here’s a great recipe!) or by your favorite brand? Sadly, one TikTok user wasn’t able to do this, and her story is a true culinary nightmare.
Abby, whose TikTok account is @aceengel, shared that, over two months, she bought four boxes of Kraft gluten-free mac and cheese, and they didn’t contain any cheese packets! Since she went to four grocery stores, this was clearly a huge issue and not a one-off problem. After emailing and phoning the brand got her nowhere, Abby took to TikTok… and Kraft’s comment on her first video was, well, strange and confusing. Someone from the company wrote, “Hello. We apologize for this issue. We’re not having any quality issues with our gluten-free Kraft Mac and Cheese.”
What? They didn’t even try to answer her specific problem! Abby tried a second time and said Kraft was “misunderstanding” her. Finally, the third time was the charm, and she had “a very great conversation” with someone from the company. They agreed to look into the missing cheese packets and also talk to the social media team about replying to people more compassionately (and actually listen to the problems that customers have).
The tale of the disappearing cheese packets had a happy ending. Stouffer’s mailed Abby some cheese packets along with cheesy broccoli with bacon, creamy street corn, enchiladas, and creamed spinach. California Pizza Kitchen mailed Abby some frozen pizzas. Abby was interviewed on Fox 5 New York, which was a cool way to get the word out about allergy-friendly food and the necessity of proper customer service.
People were glued to the cheesy drama as if they were watching a new episode of their favorite TV show (and, honestly, same). @_jenhamilton_ wants to know why Kraft didn’t just say “thank you so much for letting us know” and mail her free boxes. @pinkdaisysunsets made a humorous video about the gaslighting. As one user said, “so invested in Kraftgate.” Some who have Celiac disease could relate to the struggle of trying to find safe food. Abby was moved by the positive response and wrote in the caption of one of her videos, “Thank You for validating me. I have felt, because of my gluten free diet, I’m often isolated because I cant enjoy the same things as everyone else.”
I relate to that sentiment as I’m allergic to gluten and dairy, so no gf mac and cheese for me, unfortunately… or delicious pasta made with feta. Given the large number of people who can’t eat gluten, either, it’s definitely a problem not to have proper products. Around 3 million people living in the U.S. have Celiac disease and 20-30% are gluten-free. Sadly, The Harris Poll discovered that 28% of Americans think if you’re gluten-free, you want people to focus on you. I can say that’s not true at all. My worst nightmare is having everyone at a restaurant table staring at me as I make the necessary adjustments to what I’m ordering. It’s the best day ever when I can order a dish as is.
As Abby said, everyone wants to feel like they belong… and to enjoy their gluten-free mac and cheese in peace. With the cheese packets, thank you very much.