Entry in progress—B..P.
Business Insider
Starbucks’ Beloved Pumpkin Spice Latte Almost Didn’t Happen
NORA LANDIS-SHACK FOODBEAST
SEP. 9, 2013, 12:11 PM
(...)
Ten years ago, as coffee gurus and execs at Starbucks were testing fall drink ideas, pumpkin spice quickly fell into the “meh” category, sinking behind flavors like chocolate caramel and cinnamon spice. But Peter Dukes, the espresso brand manager for the coffee giant, knew that the drink was a winner.
He refused to scrap the idea, and now, the Pumpkin Spice Latte is one of Starbuck’s most popular seasonal drinks, developing a cult following similar to the Shamrock Shake or the Cronut.
Forbes.com
ON THE MOVE | 9/22/2013 @ 11:59AM
How Starbucks Turned Pumpkin Spice Into A Marketing Bonanza
Micheline Maynard, Contributor
(...)
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Starbucks drink (now known by an acronym, PSL) and the company says it has sold more than 200 million thus far.
If you just do the math, that means Starbucks has sold an average 20 million beverages a year whose flavoring once belonged primarily in a seasonal pie, another accomplishment for the company run by billionaire Howard Schultz.
At the basic price of about $4 for a 12-ounce tall size, PSL means at least $80 million in revenue this fall for Starbucks, which serves it beginning in September.
(...)
Now, about the pumpkin sauce that Starbucks puts in its PSLs. It’s essentially pumpkin, milk, brown sugar, vanilla and the spices (there are make-your-own instructions here).
Serious Eats
Pumpkin Spice Latte Showdown: Starbucks vs. McDonald’s
Adam Lindsley
OCT 1, 20137:45 AM
Pumpkin spice is back with a vengeance. Tweaking drinks to take on the properties of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and allspice—plus, sometimes, a dash of everyone’s favorite orange squash—has become a tradition that millions look forward to every year. Starbucks has sold over 200 million of their pumpkin spice latte over the past decade. But the coffee behemoth’s competition just got a little stiffer, with America’s biggest fast-food chain, McDonald’s, getting in on the action with a pumpkin spice latte of its own. If that’s not grounds for a head-to-head comparison, I don’t know what is.
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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