The Croissant Theory, or Why These Businesses Are Taunting Their Customers

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TikTok. She says that the shiny, filled-out facade of each pastry often guarantees a crispy result.

She has learned that bakeries offering croissants later in the afternoon can be a red flag. “It could mean that the croissants aren’t that good," she says.

At Wentworth & Fenn, a bakery with two locations in Charlotte, N.C., owner Samantha Ward offers no more than a dozen of her bourbon butter oatmeal creme pies at each location. Often that means the bakery’s most popular dessert sells out by noon, she says.

Posts on Instagram of limited pastry runs, including of a lemon cayenne tart, are especially popular, Ward says: “You have to get here ASAP so you’re not missing out." Instead of waking up early, Shelby Stern, 36, who stays at home with her two children, says she often visits nearby coffee shops and boutique grocers that carry pastries from her favorite spots near her Denver home. Some bakeries sell items to local cafes where they have a lower likelihood of selling out.