Pumpkin spice returns to shelves once again

While pumpkin spice remains a popular flavor, the question on market researchers’ minds this year is: Are consumers past the pumpkin spice product craze? Chicago-based consumer intelligence company NielsenIQ found unit sales for all pumpkin-flavored items across the store dropped by 1.5% for the 52-week period ended July 29. Despite the dip in unit sales, the total dollar sales for the 52-week period ended July 29 still reached $802.5 million.

Pumpkin spice can be found in virtually every aisle of the grocery store. This year, the fall flavor is being used in everything from cream cheese to protein shakes to mochi and ice cream pops. Hefty even debuted limited-edition cinnamon pumpkin spice trash bags.

GoodPop, a frozen better-for-you dessert brand, launched a pumpkin spice latte pop. The dairy-free frozen treats are formulated from oat milk, pumpkin and cold-brew coffee, with no refined sugars or sugar alcohol sweeteners, and contain 60 calories per pop.

To accompany pumpkin spice, companies also are starting to release products flavored with apple pie seasoning.

Food Business News