Starbucks Launches Pumpkin Spice Latte Early but It Won’t Help

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Aug 22, 6:50AM EDT

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Starbucks Launches Pumpkin Spice Latte Early but It Won’t Help — © Candise Buckbee / Getty Images

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Before the new Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX | SBUX Price Prediction) CEO can even set up his remote office, the company decided to release its popular pumpkin spice latte.
It is an indication of why Starbucks needs an adult to run it.
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Before new Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) CEO Brian Niccol can even set up his remote office, the company made the odd decision to release its popular pumpkin spice latte. This is a mere two days earlier than last year. It means the Starbucks autumn menu will be offered in its stores before the summer has even ended.

According to CNN, seasonal food and drink sales are about 10% of total Starbucks sales. However, it is hard to believe that a single drink will make any difference. The news channel described the drink as “beloved.”

Thomas Prather, vice president of marketing at Starbucks said, “When [pumpkin spice latte] comes back — it’s something that you’ve remembered over the years and it’s like, OK, something in my life is normal and predictable and comforting.”

The decision is a sad attempt to restart sales before CEO Niccol can make any decisions on his own. It is also an indication of why Starbucks needs an adult to run it.

Before the news that Niccol would take over as chief executive, Starbucks stock was down 25% for the year. Comparable store sales were down 2%. While that does not seem like much, investors have watched comparable store sales rise for years.

A one-drink decision is an embarrassment.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.