PepsiCo expects health focus to provide multi-billion dollar sales boost

Posted by Daniel Palmer on 2nd February 2010

PepsiCo has confirmed that it is aiming to triple its US$10bn revenues from the healthy drink and food market with the launch of several products.

PepsiCo chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi revealed the plan in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, published on January 31.

The move is part of a strategy to treble the group’s $10bn global healthy food and drinks revenues over a decade, with a focus on its “good for you” ranges.

A spokesperson for PepsiCo told just-food: “Right now our revenues are around $43bn. What Indra is saying is that today, about $10bn of our revenues comes from products that are healthy, whether they’re oatmeal or orange juice. Over the next ten years, PepsiCo would like to triple that, so Indra would like $30bn of our revenues to come from those types of products.”

He added: “By doing that, we’ve hired a whole staff of research and development people, including a chief scientific officer, we’re investing in research and development, we’re looking at ways to make our ‘good for you’ products healthier and we’re also looking at developing healthier new products.”

In the interview, Nooyi said that PepsiCo plans to develop a nutritional drink aimed at children, although she added that the firm does not market to children under 12 years of age.

The chief executive said that it does not market to children under 12 years, a stated goal of the company, but added that it is “very careful” on nutrition for kids.

Last month, PepsiCo announced plans to open a research and development facility in the US, to focus on the development of healthier products.

The laboratory will be located in New Haven and again, marks a major shift by the firm to fundamentally improve the nutritional profile of its products.

just-food is the world’s leading portal for the global pre-packaged food and retail industries. Its daily mix of breaking news, views, analysis and research serves over 100,000 food executives each month. http://www.just-food.com/