EXCLUSIVE: ALDI’s VP Dishes on Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice
It’s fall y’all, and that means consumers are taking a closer look at seasonal flavors across the store. And even as it prepares for its holiday rollouts – and the return of its viral advent calendars – ALDI is currently touting its autumn-centric offerings.
According to Scott Patton, VP of national buying at ALDI, the retailer keeps close tabs on demand and heeds shoppers’ evolving tastes. “From 2022 to 2023, we saw sales of fall flavor ALDI Finds items grow by double digits thanks in large part to pumpkin and pumpkin spice products, which continue to be two of our top performing ALDI fall flavors – everyone still loves them,” he told Progressive Grocer in an exclusive interview. “It’s because of that shopper love that we increased our top pumpkin and pumpkin spice ALDI Finds items by as much as 50% more to keep pace with demand, and ensure we have plenty of those items on our shelves all season long.”
Shoppers can encounter such seasonal items across categories. “At ALDI, when we think ‘pumpkin,’ we think beyond flavors for bakery and beverage items. Since our stores are stocked with 90% private label products, we have more direct control over how we can bring creative seasonal innovations to life, whether we’re adding the perfect amount of ‘spice’ or taking advantage of the pumpkin shape to build seasonal excitement,” Patton explained.
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He highlighted new and notable products that reflect that approach, such as Peanut Delight Pumpkin Spice Peanut Butter and Priano Pumpkin Sage Ravioli. In beverages, Barissimo Nondairy Pumpkin Spice Creamer is one standout, projected to see a 25% year-over-year spike in demand from 2023 to 2024.
While somewhat ubiquitous, pumpkin isn’t the only fall flavor that ALDI is incorporating in its brands, as the traditional autumn apple is also showing up in different ways. “This year, Specially Selected Apple Berry Blossoms and Belmont Caramel Apple Whipped Cheesecake will hit the ALDI Finds aisle to provide new ways to enjoy fall classics,” Patton added.
Given the fact that shoppers are getting accustomed to seeing fall flavors earlier every year (hence the coining of the term "summerween"), the holiday season is in sight as October get underway in ALDI stores. “We’ve actually already started rolling out some winter seasonal products. Happy Farms Salted Caramel Cream Cheese and Specially Selected Caramel Belgian Mousse Desserts, for example, are currently on shelves. Caramel is typically a flavor that we see shoppers continuing to purchase as colder weather approaches and we transition from fall into winter,” Patton shared.
Getting seasonally-flavored products to shelf starts well in advance, of course, something that Patton underscored. “Our ALDI buying team works hand-in-hand with our supplier partners and the ALDI in-house trend team to understand marketplace trends worldwide so we can turn seasonal flavor concepts into products quickly. We pride ourselves on maintaining quality as we work to get these seasonal products on shelves for customers. Every product goes through a rigorous testing process before we offer it to customers. It’s not uncommon for a product to be sampled internally at least five times before it ever hits our store shelves,” he said, adding, “The ALDI in-house trend team does a lot of research to provide guidance on which seasonal flavors to focus on for the following year. To give this process its due diligence, we start preparing products up to nine months before they hit shelves. So, needless to say, our 2025 seasonal flavors work is well underway.”
Is that process as much fun as it sounds? “Working on flavors is absolutely one of the most fun parts of my job,” Patton affirmed. “It’s been rewarding to see the progress we’ve made in the space, and how ALDI can put an innovative spin on any product, from baked goods to beer. Just take our State of Brewing Pumpkin Ale, for example. Since we offer such a wide selection of seasonal products, I get to collaborate with a lot of people across the ALDI business, which is one of the parts of my job I enjoy most.”
Batavia, Ill.-based ALDI U.S. serves millions of customers across the country each month with more than 2,300 stores in 38 states. The company is No. 28 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named ALDI its Retailer of the Year for 2023 and among the 10 Most Sustainable Grocers in 2024.
