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It was the perfect recipe to spice up Starbucks’ best-selling Halloween-themed pumpkin latte.
But the coffee chain’s plans to make Geri Horner the face of its popular autumnal beverage are said to have been left in tatters following a dispute over whether or not it should be named after the former Ginger Spice.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal Ms Horner, 52, had spent 10 months in negotiations with Starbucks to front the campaign, which was due to launch within weeks and would have earned her an estimated six-figure sum.
Sources at the US firm say at the 11th hour, the Spice Girl wanted to name the coffee drink the ‘Geri Latte’ which they refused – prompting her to pull out.
Last night, friends of the star denied she had asked for the latte to be named after her. But Starbucks insiders insist this was the case.
There is also a suggestion that her husband Christian Horner is ‘no fan’ of the coffee firm.
A source at the chain said: ‘Talks were ongoing for ages, it was a seriously lucrative deal which would have seen Geri’s face all over Starbucks through October, it was major.
‘The negotiations began last year and they continued throughout the issues with her husband Christian, it was all on course to be a goer. Then there was a disagreement over what it would be named and whether it would stay as a simple spice pumpkin latte. That’s when things began to fall apart.’
Had Ms Horner signed the deal, she would have followed in the footsteps of American star Oprah Winfrey who in 2014 launched the Oprah Chai Tea with the chain.
Starbucks started developing the Pumpkin Spice Latte in January 2003 following the successful introduction of winter seasonal drinks, such as the Peppermint Mocha and Eggnog Latte.
The company experimented with different combinations and ratios of pumpkin to spice, ultimately deciding on a recipe containing no pumpkin.
According to a CNN report in August 2022, Starbucks had sold more than 600 million at that point since the drink’s launch.
Ms Halliwell married Mr Horner in 2014 and in her heyday as a Spice Girl she endorsed global brands such as Pepsi, Kodak, Impulse Deodorants and Walkers Crisps. In recent years F1 drivers have had their own Starbucks cups, with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo both agreeing for drawings of themselves to appear on their merchandise.
Ms Horner declined to comment on the deal.
