Days before pumpkin bagels and pumpkin schmear officially returned to menus at more than 700 Einstein Bros. Bagels August 26, the country’s largest fast-casual bagel brand offered exclusive early access to two groups of guests: digital customers as well as children ages seven and below—the latter of which also received free access to the limited-time offers at participating restaurants nationwide.
The brand designed the August 22 kids-eat-free-day promotion as an in-bakery-exclusive offering for guests born in late 2019 or after—which is the last time Einstein Bros. offered the two resurrected pumpkin LTOs.
The pumpkin bagel and accompanying schmear are “by far the most frequently requested discontinued item we’ve ever had,” said Chief Marketing Officer Jessica Serrano. Shortly after starting her role just over a year ago, she noted comments on the brand’s social media posts about completely unrelated promotions, inquiring about the fallen fan-favorite autumnal offering. Similarly, in-restaurant team members reported hearing the same thing from guests.
Jessica Serrano is the chief marketing officer of Einstein Bros. Bagels.
“It was one of those innovations that was popular for the brand before COVID,” Serrano said. “Then in the years afterward, it just kind of got away from us with other initiatives like focusing on growing the digital business [and] our egg sandwich business.”
That emphasis on the digital side of the operation years ago is reflected in the chain’s approach to marketing the return of pumpkin, with digital channels receiving exclusive early access a full week ahead of the nationwide rollout. According to Serrano, about 30 percent of the brand’s total transactions are via its loyalty program, a “healthy wealth of data” that guides menu innovation and identifies guest patterns.
“[The week of digital early access] is an opportunity for us to remind guests that we have an order-ahead and loyalty experience—give them reasons to try it if they haven’t yet,” Serrano said. “It is also a benefit to the team members. It’s a little bit of a soft launch, and it gives them a chance to kind of get their reps in before we launch the full module.”
While demand for the pumpkin bagel and schmear appears sufficient for an LTO based on guest and staff feedback, Serrano said bringing an item back after so many years does introduce additional complications for forecasting.
“Typically, if you have an annual LTO, you’re building off of a baseline. It can be quite challenging to forecast something so many years later, when market dynamics have changed,” Serrano said. “But we really focused on keeping this to a short, limited-time run. Our hope is to have it through the end of the Halloween season, but we’ll see what demand dictates.”
If the pumpkin LTOs resonate with customers and stick around as annual seasonal menu items, Einstein Bros. will grow its list of fall favorites tapping into the $1.22 billion pumpkin spice market, which is expected to more than double to $2.46 billion by 2033, according to market analysis published April 27 by Coherent Market Insights.
Beyond luring traffic to digital channels, Serrano said the LTOs are uniquely positioned to drive catering sales because of the sought-after seasonal appeal of the pumpkin offerings.
“For us and probably many restaurant brands, office admins are kind of the primary customer in a lot of those transactions, and they’re looking to feed large groups of people,” Serrano said. “Sometimes having something fun, new and exciting is a great way to get back into the consideration set, as they’re constantly thinking about variety and changing things up.”
While boosting catering and digital sales may seem like a lot of pressure for one seasonal menu item, Einstein Bros. introduced two additional fall LTOs: the new pull-apart bagel in two seasonal flavors and the new creme brulee iced coffee.
Brand leaders considered introducing the pull-apart bagel to the menu several times in years past, but this time ultimately led to the nationwide rollout, Serrano said, with the understanding that guests are looking for more ways to interact with bagels.
Additionally, Serrano said the brand launched a schmear innovation in February, a hot honey variety, which demonstrated that the new approaches to the classic cream-cheese-based bagel spread resonated particularly well with existing guests.
In addition to pumpkin bagels and pumpkin schmear, Einstein Bros. Bagels’ lineup of fall LTOs included two new menu items: : the pull-apart bagel in two seasonal flavors and the creme brulee iced coffee.
“It was kind of a two-pronged approach of bringing in innovations that drive new occasions, as well as giving guests who have known us and loved us for years more reasons to come back and try something new and exciting,” Serrano said.
The new creme brulee iced coffee is an example of dessert-inspired cold beverage innovations that the brand is exploring, with more flavors expected to hit menus in 2027. Serrano said the effort aims to help break Einstein Bros. into the beverage category in consumers’ minds.
“We have historically been more of a food-led occasion, but we know that there are people who may be coming to us for a bagel, and then they may be making a second stop for a beverage, and so we want to capture as many of those transactions as possible,” Serrano said. “What we see is that cold beverages are really what is leading the growth in that particular menu category, so that’s been a big focus for us this year.”
