Risk, returns & timeframes illustration
1 min read
October 18, 2022
by
Regan Pearson

Starbucks gets a pumpkin pumpin’ 🎃

Starbucks customers are flying high after a deal with Delta sees the frappé-café-latté drinkers perk up coffee rewards with airpoints. But proving spice ain’t always nice is Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonalds, who went on a snack attack spicing up their menus. But is it enough to keep customers happy?
Risk, returns & timeframes illustration
1 min read
October 18, 2022
by
Regan Pearson

Starbucks gets a pumpkin pumpin’ 🎃

Starbucks customers are flying high after a deal with Delta sees the frappé-café-latté drinkers perk up coffee rewards with airpoints. But proving spice ain’t always nice is Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonalds, who went on a snack attack spicing up their menus. But is it enough to keep customers happy?
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While we’ve been breaking out the jandals and iced coffee Down Under, in the US ‘tis the season of scarves and pumpkin spice lattes. Who’s not excited!? 🤩

Starbucks (SBUX) sure is! Pumpkin spice lattes are such a big deal for Starbucks that sales reportedly jumped 12% when they were added to the menu in August. 📈 Pumpkin season has also historically seen the company’s share price receive an extra caffeine hit of 1.4%. Of course, past pumpkin pumpin’s are no predictor of future returns, but buying pumpkin coffee might help to predict something else: how basic you are. 🥤 🥤

Basic or not debate aside, competitors like Dunkin’ and McDonalds (MCD) are spicing up the menu with their own pumpkin ranges. To help protect their patch, Starbucks last week spread their loyalty wings, launching a partnership with Delta Air Lines (DAL), where customers can earn free coffee and air miles with their Starbucks Rewards. ✈️ And it’s kind of a big deal. Starbucks Rewards alone has more than 27 million members and rakes in so much cash from people loading money onto the payments app that Starbucks has more cash deposits than many American banks. 🏦 But it hasn’t stopped employees spillin’ the iced-tea

Dunkin’ Donuts, which is privately owned by Inspire Brands, has been workin’ to spice up their own loyalty programme to chase down Starbucks. The company last week announced their revamp, renaming it from DD Perks to Dunkin’ Rewards! 🤨 But while Dunkin’ fans were hoping for a little extra sugar ‘n’ spice, what they got was reportedly watered down benefits. And no more free birthday coffees. And ohhh boy were Dunkin’ customers mad! 🤬 Dunkin' drinkers let rip on Reddit, with some proposing to boycott the chain or take flight to the original home of pumpkin spice goodness: Starbucks. But fan fury aside, active dunkers have been given 150 extra points, grow points faster to reach Boosted Status, and they get to eat these. 🍩

Regan Pearson
Finance writer
Linkedin

We’re not financial advisors and Hatch news is for your information only. However dazzling our writing, none of it is a recommendation to invest in any of the companies or funds mentioned. If you want support before making any investment decisions, consider seeking financial advice from a licensed provider. We’ve done our best to ensure all information is current when we pushed ‘publish’ on this article. And of course, with investing, your money isn’t guaranteed to grow and there’s always a risk you might lose money.

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