The start of the autumn season is usually marked by a change of colors to tree leaves, the air getting colder, and the days slowly getting shorter.
Fall favorites returning to store shelves and fast food chains also used to signify the season’s changing. However, brands have slowly crept up the start of PSL SZN (Pumpkin Spice Latte Season) into mid-August, while the mercury is still near year highs in much of the country, weeks before Labor Day, and over a month before the fall equinox, which occurs on September 23rd this year.
Pumpkin spice reached a milestone in 2023, of course. It’s the 20th anniversary of Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte, and the QSR coffee chain’s seasonal item perhaps did the most to spread the phenomenon across many consumer product categories, even trash bags.
