Peter, Peter, pumpkin ... daddy? Meet the 'father' of the pumpkin spice latte

For many, the arrival of fall means seasonal traditions like bundling up in flannel and enjoying an apple cider donut, maybe cooking up a big pot of chili, or raking up a big pile of leaves and jumping into them.

But for some fall superfans, all of that is just window dressing when set against the return of that sweet, autumnal nectar of the gods — the pumpkin spice latte.

Twenty years ago, Starbucks debuted the gourd-inspired beverage, and kicked off a pumpkin spice renaissance. Today, you can find pumpkin spice in almost anything. From dog treats to caviar, to candles and cosmetics, pumpkin spice has become an autumnal mainstay.

It’s popularity surge is thanks in large part to Peter Dukes, a director with the market strategy team within Store Development at Starbucks. Back in 2003, he led the Starbucks espresso beverage team and he’s credited as the “father” of the pumpkin spice latte.

As Dukes recollects, the journey to the pumpkin spice latte began due to the success of another seasonal drink at Starbucks — the peppermint mocha. Leadership wanted a seasonal drink for the fall.

"There were probably a group of five or six of us and we went into what was called the liquid lab at the time. Imagine a room that has refrigerators, it has espresso machines, it's got some windows," Dukes said. "And then to begin with, we actually started with just those large Post-it papers and started brainstorming ideas, of beverages that might resonate with our customers during the fall."

The drink flavor ideas started flowing: Cinnamon, apple, maple, cranberry orange. Pumpkin was tossed around.

Once the brainstorming was done, 10 drink ideas got selected to move to the paper concept phase, which includes a detailed description of the imagined beverage.

"So, imagine espresso mixed with steam milk and maple syrup topped with whipped cream and nuts," Dukes said. "There were a couple of chocolate-based beverages, a caramel-based beverage, a maple, pecan, honey, vanilla, a cinnamon, streusel, and pumpkin."

Dukes and his team then took the paper concepts to consumers, and asked them two questions: "How likely are you to buy this?" and "How unique is it?"

Beverages with chocolate and caramel ranked high in purchase intent. Pumpkin was at the bottom.

The fate of the pumpkin spice latte seemed doomed. But the surveyed consumers were in agreement — a pumpkin latte would be unique.

"You have to go back 20 years ago. The only thing that you'd see pumpkin like in the grocery aisle 20 years ago was the pumpkin puree that you would use to make a pumpkin pie and maybe some pumpkin pie topping. That was it," Dukes said. "So, the idea of pumpkin was quite foreign to the customers out there, including us."

Since the launch of Starbuck's pumpkin spice latte in 2003, the American consumer and palette has carried a craving for all things pumpkin spice. According to Nielsen data from 2019, consumers spent more than $500 million on pumpkin spice grocery products alone.

Pumpkin spice is a fall staple today, but Dukes says there was even a time when Starbucks considered dropping the pumpkin spice latte from its menu.

Listen to the full interview by clicking "play" on the audio button above.