PepsiCo is lifting prices on Doritos, Ruffles, SunChips and some sodas by single-digit percentages after deep February cuts, even as its CEO admits the beverage side is struggling.
The company said the new prices will still sit below where they stood at the start of the year. That detail lands after PepsiCo slashed prices by as much as 15% in February on certain products, including Lay's and Doritos, following customer backlash to earlier hikes.
Fox Business reported the latest single-digit increases cover popular chips and drinks as the North American business posts weaker-than-expected third-quarter results.
CEO Ramon Laguarta addressed the pressure on a conference call Thursday. Lower prices helped bring some customers back, he said, yet volumes have not recovered the way the company hoped.
Frito-Lay snack volumes were flat compared with the same period last year. Beverage volumes fell 2%.
Laguarta did not sugarcoat the soda problem. He said the company’s sodas, including flagship Pepsi, have struggled against competitors.
PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta stated the blunt assessment directly:
"We don’t feel good about the beverage business,"
He added that PepsiCo will put the full weight of the company behind a turnaround.
Laguarta said the firm will apply
"all of the urgency of the business and the focus on improving our performance in soft drinks."
That push includes cutting costs and reinvesting the savings into beverage brands such as Poppi, Mountain Dew and Pepsi. Shoppers watching shelf tags may also recall how PepsiCo boosts Doritos and soda prices after earlier reductions left the same tension between volume and margin.
The pattern is familiar across big food companies. When list prices climb too far, customers trade down or walk away. When prices drop, some return, but not always in the numbers executives need.
PepsiCo tied the newest hikes to higher costs for fuel, aluminum and agricultural supplies. Reporting cited by Fox Business, drawing on the New York Post, also pointed to rising costs linked to the conflict involving Iran and to tariffs.
Those input pressures matter to households that already adjusted once this year. February’s cuts of up to 15% on items such as Lay's and Doritos came after shoppers pushed back. Now the same aisle is seeing prices move higher again, even if the company insists the new tags remain below January levels.
Reuters had covered the February announcement of those steep reductions. The sequence leaves consumers with a clear timeline: higher prices early, deep cuts in February, softer volumes in the third quarter, and fresh single-digit increases now.
Anyone deciding whether to stock up on Doritos and chips before the new tags stick will recognize the same squeeze playing out in snack aisles nationwide.
Fox Business reached out to PepsiCo for additional comment on the moves.
Flat Frito-Lay volumes and a 2% drop in beverage volume show the limits of the earlier discount strategy. Price cuts brought some buyers back. They did not restore the growth PepsiCo wanted in North America.
That gap helps explain the dual track now underway: raise prices on selected snacks and drinks by single-digit percentages, and at the same time strip costs so money can flow into Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Poppi.
Big brands have already shown they will drop slower items when shelves stop moving. Readers have seen beloved snacks and frozen juices vanish from shelves as companies prune lines and chase what still sells.
PepsiCo’s latest steps sit in the same environment. Costs for fuel, metal and crops keep climbing. Overseas conflict and tariffs add another layer of expense, according to the Post account relayed in the coverage. The company answers with selective price increases that it says still leave tags lower than they were in January.
Other packaged-food giants face the same shopper math. When national brands keep testing higher prices, more households look at store labels. The Kraft Heinz sales slump forced a similar rethink as customers shifted toward cheaper options.
Laguarta’s own numbers undercut any claim that the February discounts fully fixed demand. Snacks merely held steady. Soft drinks lost ground. The CEO’s response is to treat the beverage weakness as the priority and to fund that effort with internal savings.
The practical result for families is straightforward. A bag of Doritos, a canister of SunChips, a bag of Ruffles, or a multipack of soda will cost more than it did after the February cuts. PepsiCo says the new level remains below the start-of-year peak. That is cold comfort for anyone who watched prices spike, drop, and now climb again inside a single calendar year.
No precise percentage beyond “single-digit,” no full list of every package size, and no exact effective date appear in the available details. What is clear is the direction: selected snacks and drinks move higher while the company tries to revive its soda business.
Flavor trends can still spark short-term excitement in the snack aisle. Even a pickle-flavored snacks surge does not erase the broader volume problem Laguarta described.
PepsiCo is managing margin, volume, and brand investment at once. Consumers are left managing the checkout total. When input costs for fuel, aluminum and crops keep rising, and when tariffs and overseas conflict add further pressure, the companies that make everyday snacks and sodas pass a share of that bill along. The February discounts bought temporary goodwill. The latest single-digit hikes show how quickly that relief can reverse.
Households that fill carts with chips and soft drinks will feel the difference first, and they will remember which prices moved when the costs of energy, metal, and global tension refused to stand still.