PepsiCo is strengthening the role of culinary expertise in product development as the global food and beverage company seeks to accelerate innovation and identify flavours that can appeal to rapidly changing consumer preferences.
The maker of Lay’s, Doritos and SunChips, which has annual revenue of about $94 billion, has placed greater emphasis on culinary trends and insights as part of its innovation strategy. Its global culinary capabilities team brings together trend specialists, growth strategists, food scientists, brand teams and culinary experts to identify emerging opportunities.
The team monitors developments in restaurants, grocery stores and home kitchens to identify new ingredients, flavours and preparation techniques. Potential concepts are evaluated on taste, ingredient availability and their commercial feasibility for PepsiCo.
Local flavours drive product development
PepsiCo’s approach includes studying local cuisines and working with chefs to translate regional flavours into products that can be manufactured at scale.
For its Lay’s World Cup flavours, the company studied the cuisines of different countries through market visits, restaurant research and consumer insights. In Brazil, for example, the team worked with a local chef to understand authentic flavours before developing a garlic-based flavour profile for the snack.
The challenge is to preserve the character of a traditional flavour while adapting it to the format of a packaged snack and the preferences of the target market. This can involve changes in preparation techniques and flavour intensity to make a product suitable for local consumers.
Culinary expertise moves closer to R&D
PepsiCo’s culinary function is increasingly being integrated with food science, business strategy and innovation rather than being limited to traditional culinary applications.
The company is using culinary expertise to identify emerging food signals and convert them into structured product-development processes. Its approach involves testing ideas alongside conventional project teams and developing more systematic methods for evaluating and refining concepts.
Food science also plays an important role in understanding how ingredients interact with taste and consumer perception. PepsiCo is examining flavour compounds, ingredient combinations and the sensory effects of products as part of its development process.
This approach is also being applied to emerging categories such as protein-enriched foods. The company is assessing not only the nutritional role of ingredients such as protein but also their taste, texture, flavour compatibility and overall palatability.
Faster and more iterative innovation
PepsiCo’s product-development approach is also shifting towards faster, more iterative experimentation. Food companies are increasingly testing smaller concepts, learning from failures and refining products rather than relying exclusively on lengthy development cycles.
Traditional packaged-food development could take up to 18 to 24 months from concept to shelf, creating a risk that a trend may lose relevance before a product reaches consumers. The newer approach focuses on greater agility and repeated testing to reduce that risk.
The shift reflects broader changes in the food industry, where challenger brands and changing consumer expectations have pushed large consumer packaged-goods companies to become more food-focused, entrepreneurial and responsive to emerging trends.
For PepsiCo, combining culinary knowledge with food science, market intelligence, and structured innovation is becoming essential to developing snacks that respond to evolving tastes while remaining commercially viable at scale.