People get excited about seasons. As the pages of the calendar turn, so does the weather, our attitudes, our holidays, and our appetites.

Humans are habitual in nature, and we come to love and appreciate the things we can only enjoy once a year. If you really dive deep into the psychology, the once-a-year nature is also what drives the appeal in so many ways. But in terms of foodservice, what does seasonality mean? And why is it so important?

Let’s start with the easy one, the second question, first. Seasonality is important because it’s profitable. It’s as simple as that. Try selling pumpkin spice coffee cake around the Forth of July and compare that with your sales in October. Try selling egg nog in early August. The bottom line is seasonality sells. There really isn’t any way around it.

So the next question becomes, what does seasonality mean? And to take that a few steps further, how is it best implemented? What are the considerations when it comes to merchandising?

For starters, seasonality is in the ingredients. It’s in the things you make, the items you create. Again, pumpkin spice is a seasonal ingredient and embracing those yearly flavors simply because they’re only popular once a year is exactly why you should use them. Seasonality means flavor, and flavor means profit.

The next step in seasonality is in the display. How an interior space feels upon entry will greatly impact the mood and mind frame of the customer when he or she steps up to order. Seasonal décor in the window will help pull people in as they succumb to the psychology behind why once-a-year items are so special to us.