‘We’re following the consumer,’ CEO Ramon Laguarta said.
PepsiCo’s top executive indicated on July 17 that the company may switch Pepsi’s sweetener from high-fructose corn syrup to sugar, one day after President Donald Trump said Coca-Cola would soon be making the change.
“Same journey that we have in foods, we’re following in beverages. This is a consumer-centric strategy. We’re following the consumer,” Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo’s CEO, told investors on a call after being asked about Trump’s announcement.
“If the consumer is telling us that they prefer products that have sugar and they prefer products that have natural ingredients, we will give the consumer products that have sugar and have natural ingredients. So, this is a journey of following the consumer, trying to be a little bit maybe one step ahead of the consumer, but not too many steps. And it applies to both beverages and food.”
Trump said on Wednesday that he had been discussing with Coca-Cola the possibility of switching Coke’s sweetener to cane sugar in the United States, “and they have agreed to do so,” he said.
A Coca-Cola spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the company appreciates Trump’s enthusiasm for its brand and promised to soon share “more details on new innovative offerings within our Coca‑Cola product range.”
Some Coca-Cola products feature cane sugar, although most Coke sold in the United States is made with corn syrup. Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo updated their soda formulas in the 1980s to use corn syrup instead of sugar.
Laguarta’s announcement came during a call in which executives said that PepsiCo will relaunch its Lay’s and Tostitos brands later this year to highlight that they contain no artificial colors or flavors.
“We’re trying to elevate the real food perception of Lay’s. If you think about the simplest and most natural snack, it is a potato chip; it’s a potato, it’s oil, and it’s a little bit of salt—the most simple, no artificial ingredients,” Laguarta said.
