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PepsiCo targeting 'big opportunity' in out-of-home snacking

PepsiCo is “restaging” its biggest brands – Lay's, Tostitos, Gatorade, and Quaker – to strengthen their out-of-home positioning as consumers continue to eat outside of the home, its CEO says.

Last year, PepsiCo generated €80.7 billion ($94bn) in revenue, with 30 of its global brands pulling in more than one billion dollars each. The company's goal this year is to widen reach and grow revenues further by transforming its portfolio “for the long-term” to align with market opportunities, said Ramon L. Laguarta, chairman and CEO of PepsiCo.

PepsiCo’s top brands: Lay's, Tostitos, Gatorade, and Quaker

“Consumers are shopping differently, and clearly omni-channel is growing very fast. And consumers are spending a lot of their time and a lot of their calories outside of home, which creates a big opportunity for away-from-home,” Laguarta told analysts at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) 2026 conference held in Florida..

Currently, PepsiCo is “very well developed” across at-home and retail, he said, but “less developed” in the away-from-home space. The focus, therefore, is on elevating product offerings here to “capture many more locations”. And PepsiCo plans to do this by “restaging” four of its top brands this year – Lay's, Tostitos, Gatorade, and Quaker – following on from the successful Pepsi rebrand towards 'no sugar', the CEO said.

Laguarta said these four brands represented more than €12.8 billion ($15bn) for PepsiCo globally and their transformation would take shape worldwide.

Lay's and Tostitos: Focus on fresh, home-made ingredients

For Lay's and Tostitos, the focus will be on “trying to change the food in the brand”, he explained, drilling down messaging around working with the best and freshest potatoes, talking more about the maize flour or 'masa' used in Tostitos, removing artificial ingredients, and introducing new cooking methods and alternative oils, including olive and avocado.

Overall, he said, the aim is to reposition these two brands as more natural and highlight the simple ingredients within them.

“We want to have cooking methods like 'Baked' and 'Kettle'. We will have olive oil; we'll have avocado oil. We'll have multiple partitions of the brand that I'm sure consumers will love as we go forward.”

‘Hydration is a big opportunity’ for Gatorade

For Gatorade, the CEO said the focus is on hydration for “everyday occasions throughout the day for every consumer”, taking the brand beyond its traditional sports roots.

PepsiCo is developing new formats, including powders, as well as improving functionality and offering options like low-sugar under the brand.

“Hydration is a big opportunity. We're all dehydrated; we need to drink from the moment we wake up to the end of the day.”

For Quaker, PepsiCo is relaunching the brand in the second half (H2) of 2026 to pivot products towards benefits around gut health, heart health, energy and weight management–playing into a space that “very few other brands can do” across on-the-go and at-home consumption, Laguarta said.

Positioning snacks as on-the-go ‘mini-meals’

Laguarta said Doritos will be another important brand in PepsiCo's push to broaden its away-from-home portfolio, particularly with the 'Doritos Loaded' concept of using the chips as a base for additional protein and veggies. Beyond the company's away-from-home partners and quick-service restaurants working with the brand, he said there is a lot of interest for kits being made available at retail for consumers to build their own loaded Doritos snack or mini meal.

PepsiCo will also start testing other “mini meal solutions” across its dip brand Sabra, Mexican snack brand Siete and Spanish gazpacho soup brand Alvalle. The goal here, the CEO explained, is to drive more away-from-home occasions by offering “on the go” meal options that are small, quick and nutritious for busy consumers.

More broadly, the company also wants to expand “portion control” formats across all of its brands, he said. “We think portion control will be critical for our categories to continue to increase frequency of consumption. Consumers are telling us: I love your products but I want it in 100 calories; I want it in 125 calories, 150 calories. We're expanding that.”

Laguarta said PepsiCo will also continue its expansion of Drips by Pepsi, a mixology experience where consumers can enjoy made-to-order blends of various Pepsi drinks and flavours. “This is something that we're building,” he said, with scale-up plans set for this year.