Regardless of whether the temperature outside is 40 or 90 degrees, cafes and coffee shops never fail to bring back their seasonal menus as soon as September hits. People await the return of their cozy, fall drinks, but how much do companies actually care about creating a new menu for their customers each year? The answer: they couldn’t care less.
Every year, companies repeat their menus and usually only add one or two new items. Take Starbucks, for example: in 2025, its new fall lineup once again revolved around the Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL), Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, and Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai—all drinks that have been around for years. Even local coffee shops like Suju’s Coffee & Tea have an almost identical fall menu surrounding pumpkin spice.
Anika Srivastava (11), someone who bought seasonal drinks this year, said, “I think people, especially on TikTok, get so excited when the Pumpkin Spice Latte comes out in Starbucks, and that was my entire For You page for a week. Then, it dies down because people just get bored.” The fall menu ends up fading into the background, and it seems more like companies are just giving customers the fall menu because they have to, not because they want to. Companies are barely putting any effort into curating and promoting a new menu, so the novelty of the few new drinks wears off quickly.
Starbucks fails to implement new, creative items into their seasonal menu each year and instead falls back on existing drinks in order to secure a profit (Photo Credit: Ananya Pangarkar (11)).
It’s not just about the lack of creativity; it’s about the money. Seasonal drinks are often priced higher than their off-season counterparts. If you were craving a PSL in the middle of June, you could still order a variation of it, just with a different name and price. Companies like Starbucks take advantage of their influence on fall flavors and make it seem like they are only available during this time of the year to create more demand and increase their prices. In reality, whether it be pumpkin or pecan, the ingredients to make these flavors are not limited at all. In fact, “seasonal” doesn’t really mean anything in a country like the United States, where the produce supply chain is so sophisticated and season-independent. These labels are only used to increase sales and create urgency among customers to buy as many PSLs as they can fit in their hands. Rather than waste money on a new and improved menu, why not go back to the basics and just watch the money roll in?
In their defense, these companies basically receive free advertising by the “first PSL of the season” ritual on social media. These drinks are cherished by many, and people don’t care that the menu isn’t updating as long as their beloved PSL is back. It’s a fall classic and a tradition, and you can’t break tradition. This means companies should strike a balance between staying true to their cult classics and introducing new drinks to their menu. “Surrounding more unique drinks, I feel like if they had a little bit more promotion, I would be more encouraged to try something new and go out of my comfort zone,” Srivastava said. Whether it is establishing a bigger menu with new drinks all at once at the beginning of the fall season or beginning a drink of the week system that increases both demand and drink creativity, there lies a lot of room for improvement for many coffee shops.
Pumpkin spice season doesn’t have to feel like a scam. It can be creative and maybe even worth the hype. There can be genuine excitement for new drinks to try and for revisiting old favorites. But, as long as coffee chains are aware of how much money they can continue making from doing the bare minimum, we will unfortunately see the same predictable and boring seasonal menu this time again next year. And the year after.
Eagle Era 
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