What caused the pumpkin spice craze?
Written by Jenesy Gabrielle Burkett
It is finally fall! Time to pull out our flannels, throw up our fall decorations and indulge in all our favorite fall treats. This year, more so than others, the desire to start fall early seemed heightened.
It all started with Starbucks bringing back the Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL) on Aug. 24, followed shortly by the return of pumpkin flavored ice cream, coffee creamers and cereals in our grocery stores. Each year, pumpkin spice flavored products get more media attention and more sales. But what caused this craze and when did it start?
In 2018, the market for pumpkin flavored foods — PSL, pumpkin puree, pumpkin ice cream, etc. — totaled just over $600 million. That’s $600 million worth of sales over the course of roughly three months. That is a wild amount of money, especially when we think about the PSL specifically, which totaled $110 million of sales in 2018, and accounted for only 1% of Starbucks’ annual revenue that year. As incredible a number as those are, what seems more poignant is the trajectory of pumpkin spice consumption over time.
In the first 10 years of its existence, 200 million PSLs were sold at Starbucks stores worldwide. From 2013 to 2019, 224 million PSLs were sold at Starbucks stores worldwide.
Outside of the PSL, there are many pumpkin spice flavored products that have gained popularity in the last six years. In 2015, the sale of pumpkin flavored products grossed $356.3 million. Since then, the market has seen a steady increase in sales each year.
Seeing the steady increase in sales of pumpkin spice products begs the question, why does it keep increasing? Twitter loves to attribute the PSL craze to millennials being susceptible to marketing or irresponsible with our money.
In reality, trends like these are much bigger than pumpkin spice and go beyond the latte. In the 2008 recession and again in 2020, pumpkin spice product sales spiked. Champagne Nutrition attributes this relationship to the comfort and coziness that pumpkin breads, cookies and other pumpkin treats provide. Not to mention that Pumpkin Spice Lattes offer an affordable indulgence in the face of an unstable economy.
Similarly, Montana Miller, a professor of popular culture at Bowling Green State University, attributes the popularity of pumpkin spice to longing and memory. There are whole books written about the psychology of consumption and why people are drawn to certain beverages, foods and products when craving a certain feeling.
In the case of pumpkin spice, Miller believes the pull to pumpkin spice is representative of a longing for home — the feeling of togetherness and connection that pumpkin spice triggers in association with fall holidays and being with family.
Along with the psychological significance associated with pumpkin spice, pumpkins themselves have a significant nutritional value and are seasonal in the fall and winter, some of the harshest months for crops. Historically, this has made pumpkins an essential crop in the fall and winter, finding their way into many seasonal recipes along with other gourds. Pumpkins are an excellent source of vitamins A, C and B and are packed with fiber, which would make sense as to why they are such a popular fall staple in a season when our bodies naturally crave more vitamin C.
What’s interesting about the pumpkin spice craze is that most products we associate with that pumpkin feeling of fall don’t actually include pumpkin in them or have very little. The PSL recipe from Starbucks didn’t have pumpkin in the recipe until 2015. Even then, the drink contains less than 2% of pumpkin juice. Similarly, pumpkin candles, soaps and other household pumpkin flavored products are all chemically engineered to smell like pumpkin.
Regardless of their actual pumpkin content and the reason for its popularity, pumpkin spice holds a significant place in the fall experience of millennials, Gen Z and anyone with taste. Each year, we buy more, post more and enjoy more. Whatever the reason, if the PSL, pumpkin flavored cheerios or your favorite pumpkin recipe makes you feel like fall, lean into it. Life is hard enough as it is without sipping a PSL about it.
Header photo by (Valeriia Miller / Pexels)
