Starbucks’ fall menu launch on Aug. 25 was the strongest in the company’s North American history, the brand said in a Monday press release.
The brand’s foot traffic exceeded its usual Tuesday traffic by 35.1%, “making it Starbucks’ biggest Tuesday of the year,” according to a traffic analysis by Placer.ai. It also outperformed its 2025 launch by 6.7%, per Placer.ai.
The Pumpkin Spice Latte, a perennial sales driver for coffee chains, remained a strong performer, as did more recent additions to the recurring fall lineup like the Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew.
The brand said new menu items performed well, and the coffee giant singled out the Iced Pumpkin Cream Shaken Espresso as a standout item. Certain seasonal food items also proved a hit with consumers.
“The new Hedgehog Cake Pop delivered record-breaking single-day sales for fall launch, making it Starbucks top-selling fall cake pop ever,” according to the press release.
This food performance is a validation of the brand’s emphasis on food menu innovation, which helped drive sales in the most recent quarter, CFO Cathy Smith said on the company’s fiscal Q3 earnings call.
“In fact, food attach[ments] reached a Q3 record across our U.S. company-operated business with growth across all dayparts and the strongest gains in the afternoon,” Smith said in July.
Less than two weeks before Starbucks launched its fall menu, the brand brought back the Unicorn Frappucino for a single weekend, resulting in its strongest North American sales weekend ever.
Placer.ai described the timing of its PSL launch as an example of “the strength of Starbucks' promotion-stacking playbook — using closely timed launches to keep excitement building.”
The success of these close-timed promotions could help the chain sustain its traffic and same-store sales momentum, and defray any potential sales impact from a consumer boycott organized by Starbucks Workers United.
