Halloween comes to menus a month early
With pumpkin-flavored food and drinks arrive in August, it’s not such a big surprise to see Halloween-themed menu items in September. But it does seem that restaurants are getting into the spirit a little early this year, aiming to be the first to scare up enthusiasm — and sales — with fans of the Oct. 31 holiday.
My Haunt Box returns to Pizza Hut this fall as the chain kicks off spooky season with a customizable Halloween meal. The promotion features several brand signatures, including the Personal Pan Pizza, Melts, Wings, and sides. In the drinks lineup, there’s the new Mountain Dew x Trolli Mango Pineapple Punch, available exclusively at Pizza Hut for a limited time, beginning Oct. 5 for $6.99.
Meanwhile, Dave & Buster’s is offering a limited-time Halloween menu that includes four selections. Summon the Fire Sauce is a Buffalo + chile sauce for chicken and other dippable foods. On the sweet side is Love at First Bite, a chocolate peanut butter dessert, and Funnel Cake Fries, embellished with caramel, powdered sugar, and sprinkles. To sip, there are several themed cocktails and beverages, including Freak Show, a blend of spirits and fruit flavors with a creepy garnish; Bad Medicine, syringe-injected raspberry purée dripping into a citrusy blend of vodka and melon liqueur; and The Possession, a mix of black cherry and tequila with an edible glitter rim. The nonalcoholic Cauldron Cream Soda features vanilla cream soda over dry-ice bubbles topped with whipped cream, Halloween sprinkles, and a gummy worm crawling out of the glass.
Paris Baguette is offering a Halloween lineup to satisfy cravers of both sweet and heat. The Ghost Pepper Chocolate Marble Mochi Donut is finished with chocolate marble frosting, and Ghost Pepper Iced Hot Chocolate is a rich chocolatey drink; both boast a fiery ghost pepper kick. For lovers of sweet, there’s the Halloween Scream Donut stuffed with cookies & cream filling, iced with cookies & cream white chocolate, and topped with chocolate cookie eyes. There’s also a Spider Mochi Donut iced in cookies & cream white chocolate and topped with a sandwich cookie drizzled with chocolate spider legs, and Dirt & Worms Chocolate Chiffon Cake topped with gummy worms.
The Draco collection at Fuzzy’s Taco Shop is back with a couple of new items for Halloween 2026. That includes the Draco’rrito, a fried cheese-crusted flour tortilla stuffed with cheese, seasoned ground beef, rice, vampiro-style sauce, sour cream, vampiro queso, and crispy red tortilla strips. The vampiro sauce packs a spicy punch here and in the Draco Taco II, a crispy red shell tucked inside a melted cheese-topped flour tortilla, then filled with seasoned ground beef, garlic sauce, vampiro-style sauce, avocado, feta, cilantro, and lime. Two drinks complete the lineup: the Drac a ‘Rita frozen Margarita rimmed with black salt and garnished with vampire teeth, and Midnight Matador, a blood orange riff on a Margarita.
Flamin’ Hot is the theme at Del Taco, with the infusion of Cheetos Flamin’ Hot flavor into a number of items. Flamin’ Hot Queso & Chips fires up queso blanco, served both with chips and on Loaded Fries, the latter including seasoned beef, cheddar, diced tomatoes, jalapeños, and sour cream, too. Also on offer is a Flamin’ Hot Queso Beef Roller, Flamin’ Hot Queso Crispy Chicken Burrito, Epic Flamin’ Hot Queso Grilled Chicken Burrito, Flamin’ Hot Queso Loaded Nachos, and Flamin’ Hot Crunchy Cheese Flavored Snacks.
It might be a bit of a stretch to connect the new Garlic Parmesan Bone-In Wings and Chicken Bites at Chester’s Chicken to Halloween, but garlic is known to ward away vampires, and these items are garlicky. Both are flavored with garlic Parmesan seasoning and are available through Halloween and beyond.
As Halloween edges closer, more pumpkin items are landing on menus. Robeks launched the Perfectly Pumpkin Smoothie, a blend of pumpkin purée, banana, almond butter, and non-fat frozen yogurt with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, agave syrup, and proprietary pumpkin pie spice mix.
Fast-casual Honeygrow is flavoring its signature honeybar with Pumpkin Spice, rolling out pumpkin mousse, honey, roasted apples, granola, maple granules, and candied pecans as options through Jan. 4, 2027. Other seasonal LTOs include Creamy Sriracha Tahini Stir-Fry, a wok-cooked meal with a base of fresh egg white noodles tossed with chicken, mushrooms, red onions, spinach, and scallions in Sriracha tahini sauce, and a Honey Sriracha Tahini Salad with a vinaigrette boasting the same flavor profile.
Higher-end full-service chains are also jumping into the pumpkin trend this year. STK introduced Pumpkin Ravioli & Crab with sage butter, Champagne confit mushrooms, pecorino cheese, and pine nuts ($59), a Pumpkin Espresso Martini with vodka, pumpkin spice RumChata, Licor 43, and nitro-infused espresso, and a Pumpkin Spice Margarita (both $23). For dessert, there’s Pumpkin Pie with candied pumpkin seeds, salted caramel, and bourbon whipped cream ($17) and Tres Leches Cake with pumpkin spice and whipped cream ($20).
And pumpkin spice is making its way into fondue at Melting Pot. The newest dessert fondue is Pumpkin Spice White Chocolate Fondue made with white chocolate, spiced pumpkin purée, and pumpkin spice caramel finished with spiced graham cracker crunch. Seasonal savory flavors are also on hand with Cranberry Pecan Cheese Fondue made with Butterkäse and Fontina blended with apple cider, smoked ham, dried cranberries, and candied pecans, and Apple Almond Salad with Gorgonzola and apple mustard vinaigrette.
A quick limited-time offer is available at Krispy Kreme through National Coffee Day on Tuesday. The chain is transforming its Original Glazed doughnut into the Original Glazed Coffee Flavored Doughnut with a creamy coffee glaze. With any purchase on Sept. 29 customers can also get a free small or medium hot or iced coffee. On the menu for a longer time, until supplies last, are Churro Doughnut Dots, eight doughnut holes tossed in cinnamon sugar and served with dulce de leche dipping sauce.
The Salted Caramel Javablender Smoothie at Tropical Smoothie Cafe also celebrates coffee, but is available way past National Coffee Day. It’s a combo of cold brew coffee, caramel sauce, Chobani Sweet Cream Zero Sugar creamer, and nonfat yogurt, topped with salted caramel crunch.
Coffee makes a flavor statement in Juice It Up’s Cold Brew Chia Pudding Parfait topped with Hemp Plus Granola, almonds, coconut flakes, and honey. The chain also returned its Horchata Smoothie to the menu, made with almond milk, yogurt, dates, banana, cinnamon, and chia seeds, and debuted a White Chocolate Raspberry Smoothie with soy milk and raspberry sherbet. To eat, there’s Protein Avocado Toast and Avocado + Cucumber Toast.
Calamansi, not coffee, is Jollibee’s choice for a beverage launch. The Filipino citrus fruit flavors Calamansi Lemonade and Calamansi Lemonade Freeze, the latter blended with ice.
A collab between PopUp Bagels and Graza, a producer of extra virgin olive oil, is launching Wednesday, which happens to be National Extra Virgin Olive Oil Day. Two new smears will be available for a limited time: Zesty Caesar Cream cheese, inspired by Graza’s new Zesty Caesar chips, and self-explanatory Herby Olive Oil Butter.
For more food and drink news of the week, check out Menu Tracker.
