A decade in the making: From progress to possibility for PepsiCo’s food and drink portfolio

For anyone who has ever opened a bag of Doritos, poured a Pepsi or made a bowl of Quaker oats, taste is usually the first reason they come back. The crunch, flavor, fizz or comfort of a familiar product matters. That is also what makes updating those products so difficult.

Over the past decade and more, PepsiCo has been working to evolve parts of its food and drink portfolio as consumer preferences, nutrition expectations and regulations have changed. The work has included reducing added sugars in drinks, lowering sodium and saturated fat in foods, adding more diverse ingredients and developing new products that bring benefits such as whole grain, fiber, protein or hydration into everyday occasions.

What it takes to evolve a familiar product

That kind of change can be hard to see from the outside. A product may look familiar on the shelf, but behind it, teams may have spent months or years adjusting ingredients, testing taste, checking quality, making sure the product still works in everyday life and delivering on the taste and qualities people love.

Product development requires teams to carefully balance multiple attributes, including shelf life, texture, stability and flavor, to safely deliver the experience consumers expect. That’s why PepsiCo’s approach combines recipe changes with an interconnected way of working. Research, design, food safety, nutrition science, culinary expertise, regulatory review, brand insight and local market teams all play a role in ensuring familiar products retain the qualities people value.

“Progress in this space is rarely about a single breakthrough,” said Tara Glasgow, PepsiCo’s chief science officer and executive vice president of research and development. “It is the result of thousands of decisions informed by science, consumer understanding and rigorous testing. Every improvement, whether it is reducing sodium, incorporating more positive nutrition or advancing new ingredients and technologies, builds on what we have learned over time. Our goal is to continue evolving our products in ways that consumers value, while delivering solutions that are practical, scalable and rooted in science.”

Since 2015, PepsiCo has tracked progress against strategic nutrition goals across added sugars, sodium and saturated fat. The company has achieved its 2025 targets in those areas. The work has delivered lower- and no-sugar drink options, recipes for brands including 7UP, Mountain Dew and Mirinda, sodium reductions in selected Walkers, Lay’s and Doritos products, and oils with lower saturated fat across some markets in brands such as Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos.

Reinventing Doritos in Europe without losing its boldness

Some changes have been built into the familiar look, taste and texture of products people already know. Doritos, one of PepsiCo Europe’s biggest brands, shows how much work can sit behind a much-loved product. The brand faced a complex challenge: improve its nutritional profile while protecting the bold flavor, crunch and appeal that make Doritos distinctive.

Teams started with a market test. There, they introduced a renovated product that reduced fat and salt while increasing crunch. The consumer proposition did not lead with nutrition. It stayed rooted in Doritos’ promise of boldness, focusing on a better eating experience.

“The complexity was that we were not trying to create a different Doritos,” said Karen Scott, vice president of marketing innovation for PepsiCo Europe. “We had to improve the product’s nutritional profile and respond to a changing regulatory environment, which led to a crunchier texture. Ultimately, local consumer acceptance dictates the success of any proposition, so we leaned into our most important attributes: bold taste and crunch. We worked across brand, innovation, R&D and local markets, testing carefully and making sure the new Bolder Crunch was clearly communicated and celebrated as a key brand asset.”

After the test-market success, the renovated product rolled out across Europe. After two years in those markets, Doritos achieved 20% growth, attracted 2.1 million new customers and earned industry recognition, including Grocer of the Year in the U.K. and Brand of the Year honors.

The next evolution: Expanding positive nutrition

The next phase is broader. PepsiCo’s recent goals still include sodium reduction by 2030, but the company is looking more intentionally at what consumers want from their food choices and how to make products more nutrient-dense. This includes an ambition to deliver 145 billion portions of diverse ingredients annually in PepsiCo’s global convenient foods portfolio by 2030. Examples already in market include Tostitos with 8 grams of whole grain per serving, Quaker Fiber Instant Oatmeal, Quaker Chia & Flaxseed Instant Oats and Simply Doritos with whole grain in the U.S.

PepsiCo’s network of more than 2,500 R&D associates across 19 R&D centers helps bring that work to life. Nutrition scientists, seasoning specialists, chefs, regulatory experts and product developers each play a role in translating science and insight into food and drinks that can work in everyday routines.

“Our focus is on bringing together science, technology and consumer insights to create more choices that are functional, nutrient-dense and relevant to people’s daily lives,” said Glasgow. “By building on the foods and beverages people know and enjoy, we can continue to expand choice and advance positive nutrition in ways that are meaningful to consumers, grounded in science and scalable.”

Building on a decade of learning

And the work isn’t finished. Expectations will continue to change. But the past decade has helped PepsiCo build a clearer understanding of what it takes to adapt familiar products: start with the consumer, follow the science, test carefully, adapt locally and keep taste at the center.