The price of the Pumpkin Spice Latte is slated to rise at Starbucks coffee shops across the nation.
Enthusiasts of the popular fall beverage will face costs between $5.45 and $5.95 for a grande-sized cup, according to a report from CNN, marking a 4% increase since last autumn. The move comes months after former Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson warned of plans to increase prices due to labor costs and other inflationary pressures.
The Pumpkin Spice Latte, which is returning for the nineteenth year, will be accompanied by a cold brew version, as well as an Apple Crisp Macchiato and Apple Crisp Oatmilk Macchiato.
“The first sip of a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte or Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew cues the unofficial start of the fall season for many customers, and Starbucks is celebrating its return alongside a full menu of fall favorites,” the company said in a press release.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, year-over-year inflation reached 8.5% in July 2022, with a slight moderation from the 9.1% reading in the previous month driven by lower energy prices — even as costs for food, new vehicles, medical care, and shelter continue to rise. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, whose company is also dealing with wage inflation as Americans continue to remove themselves from the workforce, recently explained that rising food prices are impacting consumer behavior.
“Right around the middle of the first quarter is when we saw food inflation reach a level where behavior started to change,” McMillon said during an interview with CNBC. “It got to a level where people making less than $50,000 household income started behaving differently, and then to the $75,000 level and then to the $100,000 level.”
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said at a conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that the central bank still intends to reduce inflation to 2% — the rate maintained by policymakers for most of the past three decades.
“Price stability is the responsibility of the Federal Reserve and serves as the bedrock of our economy,” the policymaker asserted. “Without price stability, the economy does not work for anyone. In particular, without price stability, we will not achieve a sustained period of strong labor market conditions that benefit all. The burdens of high inflation fall heaviest on those who are least able to bear them.”
Beyond price pressures, Starbucks is contending with increased levels of crime and homelessness in urban restaurants. The company said last month that they would close locations in Seattle, Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., amid the safety issues.
“It has shocked me that one of the primary concerns that our retail partners have is their own personal safety,” Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said of conversations with employees in footage obtained by The Post Millennial. “And then we heard the stories that go along with it about what happens in our bathrooms, the issue of mental illness, the issue of homelessness, and the issue of crime.”
Employees at hundreds of Starbucks restaurants are currently attempting to unionize. In a complaint filed earlier this year with the National Labor Relations Board, labor union Starbucks Workers United said that the company is “threatening employees with loss of benefits” for attempting to collectively bargain. At the Oklahoma location where one employee named Neha Cremin works, the threat allegedly includes “loss of gender-affirming health care for transgender employees.”