Halloween is nearing and the pumpkin madness has already started. Food joints will now line up pumpkin-flavored food items in their menu to attract pumpkin lovers.
Just like previous few years, the craze for pumpkin food items is expected to be on the rise in the fall and early winters. Food retailers such as Starbucks, Oreos, M & Ms, Dunkin' Donuts and more usually offers a few pumpkin flavored items as seasonal treats during the fall.
Reports suggest that Americans do not crave for pumpkins so much apart from the Halloween season. The sale of pumpkin products touches the roof for many retailers and some of them have also reported to have run short of pumpkin flavored ingredients for their food.
Food industry tracker Mintel suggests that pumpkin-based beverage has grown by 130 percent in the U.S. since 2004. Starbucks will offer its highly-popular seasonal offering Pumpkin Spice Latte for the eleventh year in the row. Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte is the most popular seasonal item on the menu and the company has sold over 200 million Pumpkin Spice Lattes since its launch. Dunkin' Donuts, the rival of Starbucks, has also introduced a number of pumpkin-flavored items in its menu.
The exact reason as to why people crave pumpkin during the fall and early winter still remains unknown but industry trackers have some hypotheses, which suggest the popularity of pumpkin-flavored food during the season.
Market researchers believe that a flavor that is available to consumers for a limited number of days or months creates an illusion of eating something new. Pumpkin pie is the second most eaten pie in the U.S. after apple pie. Surprisingly, pumpkin pie is mostly consumed only on Thanksgiving. Similarly, if companies like Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts and more offer pumpkin-flavored items throughout the year, the demand of these items may also decline over time.
A Fortune report cites Alan Hirsch, the founder and director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, who has a different hypothesis regarding the popularity of pumpkin flavor. Hirsch suggests that a combination of pumpkin pie and lavender creates the highest level of arousal amongst men.
Hirsch's another hypothesis is that there has been a loss of traditions in the current world. The flavor of pumpkin brings back the memories of their childhood.
Whatever the reason be, people will still be enticed by pumpkin-flavored food during the season. It does not seem that the pumpkin fad will come to end in the near term as more and more food retailers are introducing pumpkin-flavored items in their menu.
