The business of pumpkin spice

You don’t need us to tell you: pumpkin spice is big.

What Forbes once described as a $600 million “Pumpkin Spice Industrial Complex,” the business of creating products that feed a fall-flavored obsession is massive, taking the shape of pumpkin-spiced doughnuts and coffee to vodka and candles. And in a region that’s home to the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, corn mazes, and apple picking, Hudson Valley and its area businesses have a front-row seat to autumn’s annual pumpkin-spice mania. 

“I have had cafés in the past where customers expected us to have pumpkin spice products, so I made sure it was part of my business plan for fall when I opened this shop in June,” says Lucky Sparrow Kitchen chef and owner Renee Alexander, who is debuting a pumpkin-spice latte muffin, soup, flavored coffee syrup, and cookie October 1st at her Margaretville eatery.

She got inquiries about pumpkin spice goods right after Labor Day, and her restaurant’s Instagram poll got over 175 votes for “Yes” to the question of whether to include Pumpkin Spice on the menu.

Alexander herself once had a unique perch from which to watch pumpkin spice-palooza firsthand.

“Having worked in digital marketing for Dunkin’ Donuts, when the PSL [Pumpkin Spice Latte] trend launched in the early 2000s, I can confirm that it is indeed a major national phenomenon,” she says. “But certainly in upstate New York we have a greater need for the warming effects of spices like cinnamon and clove.”

While PSL haters deride the ubiquitous pumpkin spice and its fans as “basic,” many more happily hop aboard the seasonal taste train, which shows no signs of stopping.

Tastewise, an AI-powered food intelligence solution that offers industry insights to major brands like PepsiCo, Nestlé and General Mills, found several data points for pumpkin-spice interest in the Empire State, based on an analysis of restaurant and delivery menus, social interactions and millions of digital recipes.

“Consumer interest in dairy-free pumpkin spice products is up 38 percent year over year locally,” says Miriam Aniel, head of content and research at Tastewise. She notes that pumpkin-spice doughnuts in particular are emerging as a favorite product in New York, with consumer interest rising 20 percent year over year.

In the Hudson Valley and the Catskills, the public’s insatiable appetite for all things pumpkin spice means companies need to plan for products earlier each year.

Take Harney & Sons teas in Millerton, a high-end tea purveyor that sells more than 300 varieties — including, yes, a pumpkin-spice flavored tea. Alex Harney, the third-generation owner, says that they regularly sell out of the Rooibos-based seasonal herbal blend every year and start getting requests for it as early as June.

“Customers love the warming flavors, and the feeling of fall encapsulated in a beverage or food item,” said Harney, who added that he finds the mania a little funny, because customers aren’t really chasing the “pumpkin” flavor so much as spices associated with it.

“Maybe it reminds them of Thanksgiving meals and being with loved ones. I don’t think it’s related to the region, because it performs well all over the country, but maybe since we live in a more seasonal area it hits just a little harder.”

Elsewhere in the Hudson Valley, companies like the Hudson Valley Marshmallow Company in Beacon, which sells direct locally and wholesale across the country, similarly report big consumer excitement over pumpkin spice products. Inquiries for their pumpkin spice marshmallow — one of their most popular seasonal products — begin in August, with consumer interest starting earlier every year, the company says.

Due to pandemic-related supply chain issues this year, the company has had to push their release date back on the seasonal marshmallow until the end of September. They already have a waiting list. Brendan McAlpine, President of Hudson Valley Marshmallow Company, attributes the appeal of pumpkin-spiced fare to the nostalgia factor.

“They just taste like fall, and since most pumpkin spice products are limited releases, people go crazy for them for the few months they’re on the market,” he says.

Dave Maffei, owner of Halfsies Cookie Company, a Marlboro-based bakery that sells exclusively online to consumers nationwide, similarly thinks nostalgia plays a big role in the pumpkin spice obsession.

“I think there’s a certain nostalgia that comes with pumpkin pie spices and if you can trap those warm feelings in a cookie then people will go for it,” he says.

Currently, Halfsies sells pumpkin spice infused Snickerdoodles, Cinnamon Bun Cookies, and Peanut Butter Cookies, among other pumpkin-flavored baked goods. They’re not the only regional shop cashing in on the flavor as Samuel’s Sweet Shop in Rhinebeck sells pumpkin spice malted milk balls among its fall treats.

If there was a regional starting gun to the pumpkin spice season, it might be Stewart’s Shops, headquartered in Saratoga Springs with 355 convenience stores across 32 counties in New York and Vermont. Stewart’s doubles down on pumpkin spice, from their top-selling Pumpkin to Talk About Ice Cream (pumpkin-flavored ice cream, plus cheesecake swirl and churro pieces available in pre-packaged pints) and pumpkin muffins, to pumpkin spice coffee and pumpkin pies in November.

“We start seeing interest in pumpkin spice products in mid-August as nights start getting cooler and families start getting ready for kids to return to school,” says Erica Komoroske, Director of Public Affairs for Stewart’s. Playing to customers’ weakness for pumpkin spice, the company brews pumpkin spice coffee in glass pots come autumn, “so that aroma hits you as soon as you walk in the shop.”

Adult beverages aren’t to be overlooked on the pumpkin spice front, either. Brian Mulder, co-owner of Union Grove Distillery in Arkville in the Catskills, makes a pumpkin spice-infused vodka using fresh local sugar pumpkins and flavors.

“We only offer this at the distillery — some folks have asked to purchase bottles of the infused vodka, but as of now we do not offer it by the bottle,” he says.

Two of the most popular fall drinks sold at the distillery that are made with the special seasonal vodka are a Pumpkin Russian for a seasonal twist on a White Russian, and the so-called Pumpkin Pie, which combines pumpkin spice vodka with Tree Juice Maple Syrup and New York apple cider.

“[Making these drinks] gives us a great opportunity to support local [businesses], which we try to do as much as possible,” he adds. The drinks have such a fan following that some customers ask for them out of season, too. We regretfully have to inform them that it is a fall special only.”

Meanwhile, Awestruck Ciders in Sidney, a town in Delaware County, has also hopped aboard the pumpkin spice train, making the Hometown Homicider, a pumpkin spice hard cider. “Customers start asking by early August each year. We always try to release on time for the Dutchess County Fair, as it is a highly requested product there,” co-founder Patricia Wilcox says of the cider they’ve made every year since 2015.

“Hometown Homicider was over half of our production during the month of August. We partner with local retailers to sell our products, and one year during the month of October, Hometown Homicider was the single best-selling alcoholic beverage — outselling even world-famous, nationally distributed brands — in our hometown grocery store,” she said.

Since the Hometown Homicider is bourbon-barrel aged, the cider features added depth and a subtle caramel smokiness that “encapsulates the slight eeriness of those cold fall evenings,” Wilcox says of the runaway hit.

The aroma of pumpkin spice, not just the flavor, is popular, too. Hudson Valley Skin Care, a Pleasant Valley-based shop that sells products in boutiques across the Hudson Valley and online, offers four pumpkin spice products: bar soap, foaming hand soap, a soy wax candle, and room and linen spray.

People begin clamoring to ride the pumpkin wave around the end of August, founder Cathie Arpino says. “People love our Pumpkin Spice bundle — we can’t keep it on the shelves. People love the collection because it represents fall in the Valley. Fall is hands down the most beautiful season to come upstate … It brings out the happy memories people associate with the season,” she posits.

“We love bringing a little fall joy into people’s everyday lives.”

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Perri Blumberg is a New York City-born-and-based writer who grew up spending her summers in Woodridge in Sullivan County. She holds a B.A. in psychology from Columbia University and is a culinary school graduate from what is now the Natural Gourmet Center at the Institute Of Culinary Education. Follow her on Twitter @66PerriStreet.