As we head back to school and into cooler weather, most QSRs have chosen to release their full fall menus even earlier than last year. Some of the regulars remain on the menu, like the ever-popular pumpkin spiced latte, but many restaurants have chosen to increase the number of fall flavour selections to broaden the choices and appeal to more guests.
Tim Horton’s recently released its new menu items, adding fall flavours like maple cinnamon sugar, spiced apple cranberry, pumpkin spice, and fall peach to the lineup. These flavours are all available as hot drinks, iced, or blended as cappuccinos, giving guests the option to choose their favourites. In the U.S., their menu also includes new limited-time food items like pumpkin spiced donuts, muffins, and more.
In recent years, sales for cold drinks have made up about 50 per cent of Starbucks’ revenues, which is about a 75 per cent increase from five years ago. With consumer demand for cold drinks so high even in cold weather, Starbucks has released their fan-favourite PSL, along with adding a few new cold drinks to the fall menu like the iced apple crisp out milk espresso and the iced pumpkin cream chai tea latte.
Krispy Kreme is embracing pumpkin for its donuts, while adding its own twist on the flavour. Their new fall menu features a pumpkin cheesecake swirl and pumpkin spice maple pecan, in addition to the traditional pumpkin spiced version.
Dunkin’ Donuts, while also releasing a number of pumpkin-spiced options, is also embracing maple as a fall favourite, adding a few new food items like the maple sugar snackin’ bacon and the maple sugar bacon breakfast sandwich. They have also partnered again with Goldfish to release Pumpkin Spice Grahams, available online and at retail locations.
Chick-fil-A has introduced a few new items like the honey chicken pimento sandwich, which adds a sweet, savoury, and subtly spicy twist to their menu. They have also introduced a caramel crumble milkshake as their seasonal feature this fall.
Pumpkin spice is a trend that is surely here to stay, but QSRs are broadening fall choices, embracing new fall flavours and combinations to add to their menus as the seasons change.
