Pumpkin Spice Latte Fans Rejoice! Starbucks Isn't Raising Prices in 2023
After two years of price increases, Starbucks said consumers won't see a pumpkin spice latte price increase for 2023. We have all the details.
May 11 2023, Published 11:23 a.m. ET
Starbucks shared some good news for pumpkin spice latte lovers. The price of the popular fall coffee drink won’t increase in 2023 as it has in the past.
In 2022, Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte price increased by about 4 percent from $5.45 to $5.95, CNN Business reported. In fact, the coffee chain increased its prices across the board in 2022 and 2021.
However, Starbucks CFO Rachel Ruggeri told Yahoo! Finance that prices should remain the same this year. She said she expects the price changes to “start to moderate in the back half of the year.”
When is the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte available?
Starbucks’s pumpkin spice latte is a seasonal drink that is available for a limited time in the fall. The company usually starts selling the PSL at the end of August and has it on the menu through the end of October or until supplies run out.
The PSL is made with Starbucks’s Signature Espresso, steamed milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and real pumpkin and topped with whipped cream and pumpkin pie spices. It is available hot, iced, or blended.
The coffee company also offers other pumpkin spice-flavored products such as the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin, Pumpkin Scone, and Pumpkin Loaf.
Why is the pumpkin spice latte so expensive?
Pumpkin-spice flavored products typically cost more because of their popularity, reports a 2022 study by the personal finance website MagnifyMoney. The study revealed that a “pumpkin spice tax” usually costs consumers 161 percent more at the grocery store on everything from pumpkin-spice flavored pretzels and hummus to dog treats.
The average pumpkin spice tax is 14.1 percent, MagnifyMoney reported. But Starbucks’s PSL is 18.3 percent higher than its Caffe Latte. However, the higher price tag doesn’t seem to have a negative impact on Starbucks’s sales. The company reportedly sells more than 20 million pumpkin spice lattes every year.
Starbucks has seen a sales increase in 2023.
Consumers don’t seem to have a problem with Starbucks’s higher costs for coffee drinks like the PSL. The company reported that its store sales were up 11 percent for the second quarter of fiscal 2023, which ended April 2. The average amount customers spend on a visit to Starbucks is up by 6 percent YoY, Yahoo! Finance reports.
"We continue to see our customers return to us for reasons of the product innovation...in areas like refreshers, iced shaken espresso, cold foam, those are difficult to make at home, they give customers a reason to come in," Ruggeri told Yahoo! Finance.