“I want 4,000 coffees” were the words that were spoken in the first public call made from an iPhone. It was after 10 am on 9 January 2007, in California. Those words were spoken by Steve Jobs on a call to Starbucks to a packed theater that was amazed to see the smartphone that would change telephony forever. Years later, and in a different context, it was repeated at Tesla.
Tesla is more about sweets than coffee
That call that Steve Jobs made was part of the demo for the first iPhone. Something as simple as showing the call functions in that unprecedented product was worth showing. And although it was part of a demo, it was a real call that Jobs, with his usual sense of humor, decided to make to a nearby Starbucks.
The 4,000 coffees ordered by Steve Jobs never arrived, as the then CEO of Apple cut the call short. “Just kidding, I dialed the wrong number,” was how Jobs ended the call when the waitress, probably stunned, had not yet had the chance to take the order. If he hadn’t, the prank would have cost Steve Jobs dearly. No less than $20,000 if we take into account the cost of a medium coffee in the famous chain of coffee shops.
Many years later, in 2024, someone at Tesla did something similar. In this case it wasn’t at any demo and it wasn’t a public call either. Nor was it coffee, although it was nearly 2,000 cupcakes, which would end up being 4,000. The story was told by The Guardian recently and is most illustrative of how Elon Musk also has a soft spot, despite the fact that he has surrounded himself with controversy lately.
The Giving Pies is a small bakery in San José that last year received a super order for 2,000 mini cakes from a Tesla employee. The problem is that, although they delivered on time, they did not pay for them. And despite the owner trying to contact the company to formalize the order, she was unsuccessful.
Payment day came and no one at Tesla paid
One would think that receiving a call from Tesla ordering 2,000 cakes is more like something a bored prankster would do than a real order. However, at The Giving Pies they were used to it. Given their good reputation and being located in an area close to the headquarters of some Big Tech companies, they usually receive huge orders from large companies. Therefore, that order did not seem like the result of a joke.
Tesla ended up passing the responsibility for payment to an external supplier called City Flavor. However, it never materialized and the owner of the bakery already feared the worst when, on the day of payment, it did not come through.
That same day, they managed to contact Laura, the City Flavor agent who dealt with this matter. After apologizing to the bakery, she ordered 2,000 more cupcakes. In total, 4,000 cupcakes and an invoice for more than $16,000. And on top of that, half of them had already been delivered without having received the corresponding payment.
Needless to say, this was a problem for this small business, which had to redouble its efforts and pay its employees overtime. And, of course, it had to turn down any other incoming orders, given the extremely high level of work involved in fulfilling the order from Tesla (and its supplier).
Out of desperation, given the serious economic problem it had caused them, The Giving Pies contacted the press and on February 22nd the case “exploded” in the media. It went so viral on social networks that even Elon Musk had to respond. And thank goodness he did, as it was for the good of the bakery.
“I will make sure everything works out for the bakery”
No sooner said than done. Some time later it became known that the magnate personally took charge of the outstanding debt, as well as ensuring the purchase of all the cakes that Giving Pies is capable of producing. These same cakes were donated to charities in San Jose, so as well as saving the business from ruin, it ultimately served to help the local community.
