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The Hershey Company has announced a cross-category brand partnership between its Reese's brand and boutique coffeehouse operator The Nitro Bar to launch a limited-time offering (LTO), the Reese's Pumpkins PB Whip Latte.
Debuting ahead of peak Halloween trading, the co-branded beverage combines chocolate and peanut butter flavours to establish a non-pumpkin spice alternative within the competitive autumn seasonal coffee sector. The activation leverages experiential retail pop-ups, short-run coffeehouse availability, and digital recipe distribution to engage consumers early in the autumn trade cycle.
Co-Branded Beverage Innovation and Flavour Profile
The development of the Reese's Pumpkins PB Whip Latte translates the flavour profile of Reese's Pumpkins, the top-selling US Halloween confectionery SKU according to Circana market data, into a handcrafted liquid refreshment format.
Rather than replicating traditional warm-spice or pumpkin-infused recipes, the beverage formulation centres on a chocolate-and-peanut-butter matrix paired with cold-brew coffee and a peanut-butter whip topping.
Melissa Blette, Senior Brand Manager for the Reese's brand at The Hershey Company, stated that the collaboration aims to expand the brand's seasonal presence beyond the traditional confectionery aisle, creating a sippable autumn ritual that competes directly within the high-velocity seasonal coffee category.
Audrey Finocchiaro, Founder of The Nitro Bar, added that bringing established confectionery flavour profiles into boutique coffee preparation allowed both organisations to create an unexpected menu item tailored for digital discovery and social media engagement.
Pop-Up Mechanics and Deployment
The commercial rollout employs a phased, multi-channel distribution strategy designed to generate consumer urgency and build digital brand engagement ahead of The Nitro Bar's planned brick-and-mortar expansion into New York City in 2027.
The commercial activation is structured across three primary consumer touchpoints:
🏙️ New York City Experiential Pop-Up: An exclusive early-access sampling event taking place in New York City on 14 and 15 September 2026.
☕ Retail Coffeehouse Availability: Short-run physical retail availability across all The Nitro Bar locations running from 18 September through 20 September 2026.
📱 Direct-to-Consumer Digital Recipe: A shareable recipe release published across digital channels on 14 September 2026, enabling home preparation.
Autumn Trends
The collaboration aligns with expanding consumer engagement around early Halloween purchasing, an industry trend described by brand owners as Halloween anticipation.
Market research conducted by The Hershey Company in partnership with Morning Consult indicates that Halloween consumer engagement now extends across a four-month trading window spanning Q3 and Q4. By deploying a short-run beverage LTO in mid-September, Hershey aims to stimulate early seasonal demand and reinforce brand recall across both packaged goods and away-from-home channels.
The partnership highlights broader quick-service restaurant (QSR) and CPG trends, where multinational food manufacturers collaborate with agile, digital-first retail beverage brands to execute high-impact, short-duration menu crossovers.
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