For many, autumn suggests apple picking, apple cider, apple pie. Not in the food industry, which remains stubbornly, relentlessly fixated on pumpkin. This fall, McDonald’s (MCD) is offering new pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin pies (the chain tested them last year). Starbucks (SBUX) has brought back pumpkin spice lattes, as has Krispy Kreme (KKD), which has also added a new pumpkin cheesecake donut. Consumers also can get pumpkin pie donuts and pumpkin Coolattas at Dunkin’ Donuts (DNKN), not to mention pumpkin pie milkshakes at Red Robin (RRGB).
Eat it, apple. It’s pumpkin time. Recent restaurants trends show pumpkin, broadly defined to include “pumpkin spice” flavor (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, you know), is pulling away from apple as the signature fall flavor. Last August through November, the country’s 250 largest chains introduced 105 pumpkin-themed limited-time offers, more than twice as many as the 45 apple items they put on the menu, according to Technomic’s MenuMonitor.
Frankly, apple has behind since 2007, the first year that MenuMonitor tracked limited-time offers. Back then, it still had a fighting chance: there were 50 limited-time pumpkin offers that autumn versus 37 for apple. In the last five years, pumpkin-y offers more than doubled. Apple increased too, but not as quickly.
“We’re seeing a little bit of nostalgic trends with apple cider and apple, but not nearly as strong as pumpkin,” says Krispy Kreme spokeswoman Lafeea Watson in an email.
Why’s that? For one, pumpkin is more autumnal. “While it still symbolizes fall with apple picking, cider pressing and farmstand donuts, we all eat apples 365 days a year,” explains Dunkin’ Brands executive chef Stan Frankenthaler. “The same is not true for pumpkin: it remains a fall food and seems likely to stay as such.”
Sorry, apple.
