{"id":3326,"date":"2026-04-07T20:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=3326"},"modified":"2026-04-07T20:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:51:10","slug":"doritos-prices-jumped-50-in-four-years-and-pepsico-waited-until-it-lost-billions-to-do-something","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=3326","title":{"rendered":"Doritos prices jumped 50% in four years and PepsiCo waited until it lost billions to do something"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

The skyrocketing price of Doritos, Lay\u2019s, and Cheetos have pushed away cash-strapped consumers and have cost Frito-Lay billions. The company is slashing prices to course correct, but its efforts may be too little too late.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the Super Bowl, Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, started cutting prices of its portfolio of chips products like Lay\u2019s, Doritos, Cheetos, and Tostitos by 15% as consumers sought out cheaper options. The quick pivot on chip prices comes after years of price increases that have cut the company\u2019s market value by $50 billion since its highs in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople shouldn\u2019t have to choose between great taste and staying within their budget,\u201d said PepsiCo\u2019s U.S. Foods CEO Rachel Ferdinando in a statement ahead of the price decrease.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the beverage business, Pepsi\u2019s products come second to Coca-Cola, but thanks to the dominance of Frito-Lay, which owns nearly 60% of the U.S. salty snacks market, it has some pricing power that has helped make it PepsiCo\u2019s moneymaker. In 2024, Frito-Lay made up about 27% of the company\u2019s revenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet, this power combined with a pandemic-era push to accommodate higher supply-chain costs led to skyrocketing prices. In four years, the price of a 14.5 ounce \u201cparty size\u201d Doritos bag at Walmart skyrocketed to $5.94 from $3.98 in 2021\u2014nearly a 50% increase, Bloomberg reported citing data from Attain, which tracks consumer spending metrics. Some chip prices also reportedly surpassed $7.<\/p>\n

PepsiCo did not immediately respond to Fortune\u2018s request for comment.<\/p>\n

How a 50% Doritos price hike flew under the radar<\/p>\n

At first, shoppers didn\u2019t mind the price increases. Partly because of higher prices, Frito-Lay\u2019s net revenue shot up 13% between 2020 and 2021, and another 9% between 2021 and 2022, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These gains were above the company\u2019s guiding mantra of \u201cFrito-Lay Five Forever\u201d by which the company grew its revenue by 5% each year for decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Frito business is the jewel of PepsiCo,\u201d PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said while talking up what he characterized as Frito-Lay\u2019s great margins during an investor call at the height of the company\u2019s success in 2023. \u201cNo matter what happens with the consumer, we\u2019re going to be, I think, the preferred choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem is Frito-Lay\u2019s chip prices never went back down, despite Walmart reportedly pressuring the company to cut its prices and then cutting its shelf space, Bloomberg reported. Instead, the company implemented alternatives like cheaper multi-packs with fewer bags, new versions of snacks without artificial colors, and snacks with higher protein and fiber, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n

When $7 Doritos became a dealbreaker<\/p>\n

Still, starting in 2023, consumers started to reject the high prices. Frito-Lay\u2019s revenue turned negative in 2024 for the first time in more than a decade of growth. Dragged down by the chips and snacks subsidiary, PepsiCo\u2019s market value collapsed by $50 billion by late 2025 from its peak in 2023. The company\u2019s stock has also fallen by nearly 22% from its May 2023 peak of $196. The stock was trading at $153 as of Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Across the packaged food industry, companies raised prices aggressively during the pandemic as the phenomenon of \u201cgreedflation\u201d took hold. Even before the Iran war began in March, three in four Americans said groceries were so expensive they had needed to cut costs elsewhere in their budgets to make it by, according to point of sale company Toast. The Middle East conflict\u2019s effect on the global supply chain has also threatened to increase Americans\u2019 grocery bills. The increasing price of fertilizer, much of which flows through the Strait of Hormuz near Iran\u2019s coast, could increase the price of corn, which is used for many products in the U.S.\u2014including Frito-Lay products like Doritos and Fritos.<\/p>\n

Despite a hesitation to lower prices, in September, activist investor Elliot Investment Management helped bring a new sense of urgency to affordability at PepsiCo. The hedge fund bought a $4 billion stake in the company and demanded more affordable prices.<\/p>\n

As part of an agreement with Elliot, the company announced in December it would cut the price of some salty snack prices by 15%. The company also said it would decrease the number of products it sells by 20%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s unclear how effective the move will be and how the price cuts will be rolled out. A 14.5 ounce bag of Doritos on Walmart\u2019s website was still listed at $5.94 as of Tuesday.<\/p>\n

PepsiCo has continued to see a slow pace of growth in its North American food segment which is partly due to consumer affordability pressures, according to a note by Zack\u2019s investment research.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe business is still navigating affordability concerns and competitive pressures in the market. To address this, PepsiCo is implementing sharper price points, expanding value offerings and refreshing key brands, but the segment\u2019s near-term growth trajectory remains somewhat constrained,\u201d the note read.<\/p>\n

#Doritos #prices #jumped #years #PepsiCo #waited #lost #billions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The skyrocketing price of Doritos, Lay\u2019s, and Cheetos have pushed away cash-strapped consumers and have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[245],"tags":[5135,960,328,7479,3833,7477,273,1424,538,6845,4629,420,7478,7480,84],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}