PepsiCo North America CEO Ram Krishnan sent a letter to employees on 9 November announcing roughly 1,000 redundancies across the company's North American food and beverage operations, with the cuts expected to be carried out within a week. The Wall Street Journal first reported the layoffs; CNBC and Reuters subsequently obtained the letter.
In the letter, Krishnan wrote that the goal was to make the business "faster, more connected, and more capable, while continuing to invest in growth." The memo did not specify which roles or divisions would be affected, leaving the full scope of the cuts unclear.
The announcement follows a string of plant closures across the United States. In October 2024, PepsiCo shut down bottling operations in Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, affecting nearly 400 workers. Further closures followed in 2025, including a Frito-Lay facility in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and another in Liberty, New York. A bottling plant in Cheverly, Maryland, which had operated for more than 60 years, was also shuttered.
The backdrop is a weakening North American business. In the third quarter of 2026, beverage volumes in the region fell 2% year on year, while food volumes were flat. PepsiCo lowered its full-year 2026 earnings-per-share outlook in October, citing those pressures alongside elevated input costs and weaker demand for higher-priced snacks.
PepsiCo employs around 306,000 people globally, of whom roughly 125,000 are based in the United States. The company's restructuring effort falls under its 2019 Multi-Year Productivity Plan, which was extended in 2024 through to the end of 2030, according to SEC filings. That plan is designed to simplify operations and optimise the company's manufacturing and supply chain footprint.
Source : CNBC
