Mars Snacking's RXBAR is entering fall 2026 with its first new seasonal limited-time offering in more than four years, adding Nut Butter & Oat Apple Pie to the brand's Nut Butter & Oat line while bringing back the perennial Pumpkin Spice 12g Protein Bar. Both SKUs hit retail shelves nationwide in August, available while supplies last.
The Products
The new Apple Pie bar is built on the Nut Butter & Oat platform — whole grain oats, cashews, egg whites and wildflower honey — and delivers 10g of protein per bar alongside a good-source-of-fiber claim. Flavor notes lean into cooked apples, warm cinnamon and what the brand describes as "delicate pastry." It joins three existing Nut Butter & Oat SKUs: Honey Cinnamon Peanut Butter, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter and Blueberry Cashew Butter. Pumpkin Spice, which debuted in 2015 and has become one of RXBAR's most consistent seasonal performers, returns with 12g of protein per bar made from dates, nuts, egg whites, cinnamon, pumpkin and cloves. Both the Apple Pie and Pumpkin Spice bars carry an MSRP of $2.79 for a single bar and $11.99 for a five-count box.
Flavor Trend Context
The Apple Pie launch is a deliberate play on the accelerating apple flavor trend in packaged food. Industry reporting, including recent analysis from Food Business News, has flagged apple as a fast-growing challenger to pumpkin spice's decade-long dominance of the fall LTO calendar. For foodservice and retail operators, that trend translates into broader menu and shelf-set diversification — giving consumers a second fall flavor anchor beyond pumpkin. Regina Cabrera, Senior Brand Manager at Mars Snacking, framed the dual-SKU strategy around nostalgia and simplicity: capturing "warmth" through recognizable, minimal ingredient decks rather than complex flavoring. That positioning aligns with the wider better-for-you snack bar segment, where clean-label callouts continue to drive purchase intent among health-focused consumers across both retail and non-commercial foodservice channels.
Operator and Retail Outlook
For foodservice buyers and convenience operators, RXBAR's fall LTO cadence matters as grab-and-go protein bar sets increasingly mirror seasonal LTO strategies seen in QSR daypart management. The brand's decision to extend beyond a single pumpkin spice SKU gives retail and foodservice buyers a second fall-forward facing product for end-cap and impulse merchandising. The Nut Butter & Oat format's chewy-crispy texture also differentiates it from the original RXBAR slab format, offering category buyers a distinct texture story alongside the seasonal flavor hook. Both products are positioned as limited-supply runs, which typically support velocity metrics during the August-through-October fall selling window. Operators sourcing through broadline distributors should confirm availability timelines, as seasonal allocation on Mars Snacking LTOs can vary by channel. For more on how better-for-you snack bars are performing in foodservice settings, see our recent category coverage.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
