{"id":15945,"date":"2020-10-29T16:23:47","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T20:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stash.com\/learn\/?p=15945"},"modified":"2023-07-17T16:13:53","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T20:13:53","slug":"how-pumpkin-spice-created-a-multi-million-dollar-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stash.com\/learn\/how-pumpkin-spice-created-a-multi-million-dollar-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"How Pumpkin Spice Created a Multi-million Dollar Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Once fall arrives, you can\u2019t go anywhere without seeing pumpkin spice products<\/a>\u2014from the original Starbucks latte to Cheerios, bagels, Oreos, and even Jell-O. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, as of August, 2019, consumers bought $511.5 million<\/a> worth of pumpkin spice items. These sales marked a 4.7% increase from the previous year, when shoppers spent $488.8 million<\/a> on similar products. Since Starbucks introduced the pumpkin spice latte in 2003, the number of pumpkin spice products on shelves continues to grow, and the start of pumpkin spice season seems to come earlier each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seventeen years after Starbucks started selling the pumpkin spice latte (also known as the PSL), it\u2019s the coffee chain\u2019s best-selling<\/a> beverage. The pumpkin spice latte didn\u2019t even include actual pumpkin until 2015. As of August, 2019, Starbucks had reportedly sold an estimated 424 million<\/a> such beverages. The cost of a 12-ounce pumpkin spice latte falls between roughly $4.45 and $5.45.<\/a> Comparatively, a regular, black coffee from Starbucks in the same size costs between $1.95 and $2.15. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n For almost two decades, the PSL has been known as a sign that the leaves are beginning to change colors and people are carving pumpkins. The release date for the PSL has arrived earlier in recent years. In 2020, Starbucks started selling the drink on August 25, 2020<\/a>, a full 13 days earlier than when it was released in 2015. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Other coffee chains have followed suit, creating their own pumpkin spice products. Dunkin\u2019 Donuts introduced<\/a> its pumpkin flavor for coffee drinks in 2007 as well as pumpkin-flavored doughnuts and muffins. (Dunkin\u2019 reportedly released its lineup even earlier in the year than Starbucks.) And in stores, you can find pumpkin-spice coffee products from brands<\/a> such as Green Mountain.3<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n The success of the PSL has created an entire pumpkin spice industry, which now includes a range of products. And pumpkin-flavored coffee isn\u2019t even the top seller anymore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of the nearly half-a-billion dollars worth of pumpkin products purchased in 2018, the biggest <\/a>seller was pumpkin pie filling, accounting for $130.6 million of those sales. Pie filling was followed by dog food, which contributed $109.5 million to sales. Here\u2019s a breakdown of other products by sales:<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe pumpkin spice latte <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The boom in pumpkin spice products<\/h2>\n\n\n\n