Mars trending with Pumpkin Spice Latte M&M’s

Jersey Fresh produce is still in season, but in Hackettstown, an international confectioner is infusing the trendiest flavor of autumn into an iconic American treat.

Mars Inc. jumped on the pumpkin-spice latte bandwagon this week with the introduction of pumpkin spice latte-flavored M&M’s. The limited-edition hard-shell candies debuted about two weeks before Starbuck’s brings back its own Pumpkin Spice Lattes, the popularity of which have inspired countless social media postings and even a “Saturday Night Live” parody.

Facebook and the Twitterverse have even coined an abbreviation — PSL — for the flavor, which has built a large following in recent years.

“The product is a limited-edition seasonal flavor, available at Target for the fall time frame,” Brand Public Relations Assistant Manager Jess Greco wrote in an email to the Daily Record. “Stores are starting to display it now with a suggested retail price of $3.19.”

Mars, which reports annual sales in excess of $30 billion, bases its Chocolate Division in Hackettstown, and is traditionally one of Warren County’s largest employers. But no one in Hackettstown will be whipping up Pumpkin Spice Latte M&M’s.

“This variant was not made in Hackettstown,” Greco wrote. “It was actually made in our Cleveland, Tenn., plant.”

Several other varieties of M&M’s, though, are rounded into shape in Hackettstown, including Milk Chocolate, Peanut, Minis and Dark Chocolate.

Mars hopes to improve on the sales of last year’s seasonal flavor, Pumpkin Spice (minus the Latte), which were not particularly embraced by the public, according to some business publications. But overall in the United States, pumpkin-flavored products, which range from traditional pies to beer and coffee, have surged in recent years. The pumpkin-flavored crop in 2013 increased by 14 percent over the previous year to nearly $350 million, according to a 2014 report by Forbes.

That same Forbes article cited food-industry tracker Mintel as reporting the use of pumpkin as an ingredient in beverages alone has grown 130 percent since 2006, and pumpkin in food on menus has grown ten-fold since 2004.

Starbuck’s introduced it’s wildly popular Pumpkin Spice Latte 12 years ago, according to the company. It will make its much-anticipated return on Sept. 8. But for now, PSL fans can explore the new products from Mars and Kellogg’s — which recently debuted its limited-edition Pumpkin Spice Frosted Mini-Wheats — while they follow PSL hashtags and share PSL memes online.

“One can never have enough Pumpkin Spice Lattes, darlings. I would know…” M&M’s seductive “spokescandy,” “Ms. Green,” wrote in response to one Tweet from a fan.

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-917-9242; wwesthoven@GannettNJ.com.