Starbucks’ fall menu dropped on August 22 and included items such as a pumpkin spice latte (PSL) and iced pumpkin cream chai. Placer.ai investigated the data to see how the release affected foot traffic for the chain.

Last year, Starbucks “broke with tradition to move its PSL launch from Tuesday to Thursday. And perhaps due to Thursday’s proximity to the weekend (especially in the age of the TGIF work week), the step has proven advantageous—generating a sustained visit spike lasting through the weekend.”

This year on Thursday, August 22, foot traffic to Starbucks surged 24.1% higher than the coffee giant’s daily average for the previous eight Thursdays, according to Placer.ai. Over the following weekend, “Visits to Starbucks on the following Friday, Saturday and Sunday significantly elevated compared to recent daily averages for those days of the week.”

Compared to Placer.ai’s data between 2021 and 2023, the number of people visiting Starbucks on pumpkin spice latte launch day increased steadily. 

Last year, “The PSL visit spike reached new heights, with foot traffic 27.1% higher than on August 27th, 2019—the last pre-pandemic PSL launch. And despite Starbucks’ recent challenges, visits on PSL day held steady this year, maintaining last year’s impressive gains.”

On the contrary, Placer.ai also found that many southern states, including Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, saw only slight foot traffic bumps at Starbucks during the fall menu launch, “perhaps due in part to the region’s warmer weather, which may render the early autumn launch less compelling.”

Several retailers have also launched their own pumpkin-inspired menus. QuickChek released a lineup of pumpkin spice coffees, while 7-Eleven introduced a pumpkin spice Slurpee that can be found at five select locations.