THE YEG CRONUT QUEST: SAFEWAY

ENTRY 3: SAFEWAY BAKERY

Welcome to The YEG Cronut Quest! We are on a mission to find the best cronuts in Edmonton. It’s a tough task, but someone’s gotta do it - and our arteries are up for the challenge! First question that you might ask: what is a cronut?! Cronuts are a croissant donut hybrid - featuring the shape and flavor of a donut, but encompassing the flaky and light texture of a croissant. 

Our third entry is the Western Canadian supermarket chain Safeway! 

Location: Multiple locations across Western Canada! To locate a Safeway store near you, please visit https://www.safeway.ca/find-a-store/

The location that we picked up the cronuts from for this review was:

Safeway Westmount Centre, 601 111th Ave & Groat Road, Edmonton, AB

Item on the menu: Croissant donut, glazed and with chocolate drizzle

Tell me more: Safeway was founded in 1929 in Manitoba, as a subsidiary of the American Safeway Inc. Safeway was acquired by Sobeys Inc. in 2013 and now operates independently from the American company, but still uses the Safeway title and logo. Safeway Bakery produces a variety of donuts that are available everyday, including the croissant donut, apple fritter, crueller, sour cream, Boston creme, glazed, sprinkled, iced, and Persian donuts. Gourmet donuts such as black forest, brownie explosion and double chocolate are also available! 

You can call ahead to the bakery to pre-order or take your chances and walk in to see what’s available. The croissant donuts seem to come as glazed and with chocolate drizzle on top, but if you would like modifications (i.e. unglazed and/or without chocolate drizzle), call ahead to your local Safeway Bakery to see if that is possible! 

So, how were the cronuts? We had a bit of a fiasco with the pickup - we had called the Safeway Garneau location in the morning to pre-order. When C went to pick the donuts up, the bakery employee had left for the day and none of the other employees were able to locate where our pre-order was. Unfortunately, this probably meant that someone else had (inadvertently?)  taken the 2 boxes that we had pre-ordered…. 

In an attempt to save the day, C called the Safeway Westmount location and was able to reach a helpful bakery employee who found some croissant donuts in various boxes of assorted donuts, and set them aside for us! Phew… picking them up from Westmount was smooth sailing! At the time of writing this, the price per croissant donut is $0.99 + GST. 

For our rankings, we’ll be looking at a few categories: taste, presentation, and value!

TASTE:

B: 4/5 - Yummy. It was soft and chewy and coated with sugar. As a dessert, what more could one ask for. As a cronut, I’m not sure I would have known it was a cronut if no one told me ahead of time...but a good treat nonetheless. 

C: 4/5 - Soft and melts in your mouth! This is not a traditional cronut by any means - it is a deep-fried croissant that is glazed, but is delicious nonetheless. The sugary glaze and chocolate on top is a good combination, and I was addicted from the first bite! 

G: 4/5 - This was pretty different from the other entries - it was buttery and dense in texture, as opposed to flaky or crispy, and true to its name, tasted like a croissant that was then made into a donut in its second life. I enjoyed the glaze and chocolate drizzle - it was sweet but not overpowering (your mileage may vary, though!) 

PRESENTATION:

B: 2.5/5 - It definitely looked edible. But I can’t say it would be something that would catch my eye if it was sitting in a display case among other things. It was quite dark from being fried (I think that’s what they did) and then looked kinda flat overall sitting in the box. 

C: 2.5/5 - Let me put it this way: the Safeway croissant donuts are definitely not winners in the looks department. They look like a croissant, and the presentation of the croissant donuts in the box was a bit messy (to give Safeway fair credit though - the lady at the bakery had gathered these croissant donuts from several variety boxes, so that was probably the most visually appealing she could make it!) 

G: 3/5 - The least photogenic option so far, but at least they weren’t crushed. 

VALUE:

B: 5/5 - You can’t go wrong with this price. ¼ of the price of the other cronuts essentially. When it comes to the presentation department, you definitely get what you pay for compared to the other places. But taste wise, it’s really personal preference depending on what kind of cronut you like (more croissant-y vs. more donut-y). Nonetheless, it’s a steal at this price. . 

C: 5/5 - Where else could you pay less than a dollar for such a tasty snack?! 

G: 5/5 - For the cost of one cronut at some of the other locations, you could get ~4 croissant donuts from Safeway. That’s pretty undeniable. 

FINAL THOUGHTS: Would you get these again?

B: Absolutely. A good treat any day. Just don’t get so hung up on the “is it a cronut?” part. 

C: Yes! The Safeway croissant donuts aren’t anything close to what I imagine the Dominique Ansel version of a cronut is, but they are still a satisfying snack. I would get these again for the value and the convenience factor of being able to pick them up from any Safeway. 

G: Yes - it’s a bit debatable whether you’d consider these to be true “cronuts”, but as a sweet and cheap guilty pleasure, these certainly hit the mark. 

Disclaimer: This review is not affiliated with or sponsored by Safeway - views expressed are solely our opinions!