Plant-based snack brand TRUBAR and cult-favorite matcha café Cha Cha Matcha are launching a limited-edition co-branded product line, pairing a new protein bar with exclusive café menu items as both brands target the expanding better-for-you consumer segment.

The Product Lineup

The centerpiece is the Love You So Cha Cha Matcha bar — a white-chocolate-coated, 100% plant-based format delivering 12 grams of protein and 12 grams of fiber per bar, now available at Cha Cha Matcha locations in New York City and Los Angeles, as well as on TRUBAR.com and Amazon. On the café side, Cha Cha Matcha will offer a limited-edition PB&J Matcha drink — drawing on TRUBAR's existing Get in My Belly, PB & Jelly flavor — along with TRUBAR Protein Cold Foam as a purchasable add-on to any beverage at participating locations.

The decision to extend the PB&J flavor into the foodservice channel is grounded in measurable retail momentum. TRUBAR reports that the flavor grew 113% year over year and accounts for nearly 10% of total brand sales year to date, making it the strongest candidate to introduce to café-going occasions where impulse and wellness intent converge.

Why the Numbers Matter

The collaboration lands as protein continues to outperform broader snack category growth in U.S. retail. Mainstream grocery buyers and specialty channel operators have both accelerated protein SKU expansion over the past two years, with plant-based formats capturing an outsized share of new product introductions. For TRUBAR — which is distributed at more than 32,000 retail locations nationally — the Cha Cha Matcha partnership opens a foodservice beachhead without requiring the brand to build its own café infrastructure.

For Cha Cha Matcha, adding a functional protein layer to its menu responds directly to a consumer base that increasingly treats café visits as part of a broader wellness routine, not simply a caffeine stop. The cold foam add-on model, in particular, mirrors a mechanic that has driven incremental ticket size at larger specialty coffee chains.

"We're always looking for new ways to create better-for-you snacks that are made with clean ingredients but are still exciting," said Erica Groussman, Founder and CEO of TRUBAR. "That's what made Cha Cha Matcha such a natural partner for us."

Sam Serruya, CEO of Cha Cha Matcha, framed the deal as an extension of the brand's product philosophy: "Cha Cha has always believed that matcha can be more than a drink. TRUBAR felt like a natural opportunity to bring those worlds together in a new way."

Activation and Outlook

The launch event is scheduled for September 19 at Cha Cha Matcha's Flatiron location in Manhattan, featuring limited-edition merchandise and a golden-ticket giveaway redeemable for one box of TRUBAR bars per month for a year. A fitness tie-in with The Bar Method extends the campaign through September 27, offering complimentary drop-in classes at three New York City studios under the promo code SIPSNACKSHAKE.

Channel-crossing collaborations of this type — snack brand into café, café brand onto retail shelves — have become an increasingly common growth tactic in the better-for-you segment, as brands look to reach consumers at multiple purchase occasions without scaling traditional distribution alone. TRUBAR's ability to quantify the PB&J flavor's retail trajectory before deploying it in foodservice reflects a data-informed approach to limited-edition product strategy that operators and retail buyers are watching closely.

All collaboration products are available for a limited time while supplies last.

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.