KANSAS CITY — With foodservice brands leaning into fall flavors, recent menu additions are pairing sweet with savory.
Krispy Kreme launched its fall-inspired Autumn Orchard Collection, which features five donuts, including a salted caramel brownie donut. The sweet-and-salty donut is topped with salted caramel brownie batter flavored frosting, a salted caramel drizzle and brownie bits. Also included in the collection is an apple fritter, a maple pecan cheesecake donut, a spiced apple filled donut and a pumpkin spice cake donut.
“Fall brings a bounty of apples and pecans and flavors of maple and pumpkin spice for us to enjoy,” said Dave Skena, global chief brand officer for Krispy Kreme.
Soft pretzel company Auntie Anne’s, a business unit of Focus Brands, is also launching a salty and sweet combination this fall, with the debut of the salted caramel chocolate frost. After initially launching a dragonfruit mango frost over the summer, Auntie Anne’s is adding the flavor in time for cooler weather.
"It can be hard to say goodbye to summer, so Auntie Anne's is making the start of fall sweeter than ever with the new Salted Caramel Chocolate Frost – another new beverage innovation from Auntie Anne's as we continue to expand our premium beverage offerings,” said Cynthia Liu, vice president of marketing at Auntie Anne's.
The salted caramel chocolate frost has layers of caramel mixed with Hershey’s frozen chocolate, on top of whipped cream and topped with a sea salt caramel drizzle.
Instead of going in the sweet-and-salty direction, Baskin-Robbins is going with sweet and spicy for its seasonal flavor.
The ice cream maker debuted its October flavor of the month: Spicy ‘n Spooky.
The Spicy ‘n Spooky flavor features white chocolate ghost pepper-flavored ice cream, dark chocolate ice cream and spicy blood orange flakes.
“We’re excited to evoke the spookiness that comes with the season, using flavor elements we’ve never offered before in an ice cream, and we’re looking forward to guests’ reactions for those who are brave enough to try Spicy ‘n Spooky,” said Jeanne Bolger, director of research and development for Baskin-Robbins.
