PepsiCo is raising prices on Doritos, Ruffles, SunChips and some sodas after recent cuts as its CEO admits the company does not feel good about its beverage business.
FOX Business reported that PepsiCo will lift prices by single-digit percentages on some of its popular chips and sodas, including Doritos, Ruffles and SunChips.
The company said the new prices will still sit lower than they were at the beginning of the year. The change lands only months after PepsiCo announced February cuts of up to 15% on certain products, including Lay’s and Doritos, after earlier increases drew customer backlash.
Shoppers who forced that retreat now face another turn of the price dial. A major snack-and-soda brand is moving tags higher again while its own North American results lag and its chief executive openly frets about soft drinks.
PepsiCo tied the increases in part to higher costs for fuel, aluminum and agricultural supplies. It also pointed to rising costs associated with the conflict involving Iran and with tariffs.
Those pressures hit the same households that already watched grocery bills climb. PepsiCo cut prices when customers pushed back, then watched volumes fail to bounce back on the timetable it wanted. Now it is raising select prices again and telling the public the new levels still beat the early-year peak.
On a Thursday conference call, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said lower prices helped bring back some customers. Even so, the company’s North American division reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter results.
Laguarta said PepsiCo had hoped the trend would improve sooner than it has. Frito-Lay snack volumes were flat compared with the same period last year. Beverage volumes fell 2%.
He said the company’s sodas, including flagship Pepsi, have struggled against competitors. His assessment of that side of the business was direct.
PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said:
"We don’t feel good about the beverage business,"
Laguarta said the company will put “all of the urgency of the business and the focus on improving our performance in soft drinks.”
PepsiCo plans to cut costs and reinvest the savings in beverage brands including Poppi, Mountain Dew and Pepsi. The pledge follows flat snack volumes, a 2% drop in beverage volumes, and an open admission that the soda business is not where leadership wants it.
FOX Business reached out to PepsiCo for comment on the price moves and the call.
The sequence is plain. Prior hikes sparked backlash. February discounts of up to 15% followed. Some customers returned. Volumes still disappointed. Single-digit increases are now headed back onto Doritos, Ruffles, SunChips and select sodas, with management promising the new shelf prices remain below the start-of-year baseline.
For families filling carts, the pattern is familiar. A giant brand tests how much the checkout will bear, pulls back when shoppers resist, then tests again when costs and weak volumes collide. Laguarta’s own words put the soft-drink problem on the record. The price list puts the next decision back on the consumer.
Big brands can reshuffle prices and promise urgency. Shoppers already forced one retreat this year, and they still hold the final vote at the register.