About 1,000 PepsiCo Jobs in North America Are Being Cut in a Restructuring

PepsiCo is cutting about 1,000 jobs across North America as it tries to turn around lagging sales in its home market. The changes will land over the coming week, under a Monday memo from Ram Krishnan, the company’s North America chief executive officer, whose memo points to opportunities to simplify its structures, clarify accountability and make decisions faster. PepsiCo has not confirmed the functions and teams that will be hit by the job cuts. For Metaintro readers who work at PepsiCo, supply its plants or want a job in food and beverage, this guide covers what the company has shared, why North America is under pressure, what recent PepsiCo layoffs offered, what the WARN Act requires, and how the PepsiCo careers site sorts its jobs.

What Is PepsiCo Cutting, and Where Will It Happen?

The cuts of about 1,000 roles in North America were first made public by the Wall Street Journal, and PepsiCo has yet to confirm the exact number of employees affected.

PepsiCo says it aims to streamline its operations and better connect teams across the company’s North American business, and Krishnan wrote that changes will reach parts of the organization.

For scale, PepsiCo employs about 306,000 people worldwide, including roughly 125,000 in the United States, as of Dec. 27, based on a company filing. The company is the maker of Mountain Dew and Doritos, and it is based in Purchase, New York.

Why Is PepsiCo Restructuring Its North America Business Now?

Krishnan’s letter set the goal as a stronger, more future-fit business that delivers industry-leading growth. Krishnan also wrote that too much of how PepsiCo works today remains complex and fragmented.

To do that, we need to be faster, more connected, and more capable, while continuing to invest in growth, Ram Krishnan, CEO of PepsiCo North America, wrote in a Monday letter to employees, according to the CNBC report on the cuts.

In December 2025, PepsiCo made a series of leadership and organisational changes aimed at a more agile organisation, and Krishnan took on the CEO role as part of these changes, with the company seeking an increasingly integrated structure.

While PepsiCo has tried to lift sales by cutting prices and investing in marketing, the turnaround is taking longer than expected, Chief Financial Officer Steve Schmitt acknowledged on the company’s earnings call. As the memo became public, PepsiCo stock was down nearly 1% this year, lagging behind the S&P 500’s gains of nearly 11% over the same period. PepsiCo’s October remarks to investors acknowledge that improving North America growth and core operating margin is taking more time than PepsiCo planned.

What Did PepsiCo Tell Investors About Cost Cuts in October?

The memo followed PepsiCo's third-quarter 2026 results on October 8, in which Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta flagged that additional structural cost reduction actions are being identified and will be implemented in the coming months. Laguarta also described the company as acting with urgency to sustainably improve its performance in North America, and that the route there runs through more investments in innovation, effective brand building, and sharper marketplace execution by channel.

Structural cost reduction actions that reduce redundancies and curtail discretionary expenditures are being identified, with examples including reductions in corporate costs and other initiatives not directly tied to growth.

The cost actions are meant to help fund investments that aim to accelerate organic revenue growth and mitigate the impacts of rising input cost inflation, and PepsiCo is prioritizing innovation and more effective advertising and marketing in North America.

PepsiCo’s restructuring charges come from a multi-year productivity plan first made public in 2019 and since expanded and extended through the end of 2030. The company has also been raising savings through automation, network optimization, digitalization and simplification. It also has a new global media partnership, which aims to provide cost savings, more effective brand communications and a better return on marketing investment.

Which Parts of PepsiCo North America Are Under the Most Pressure?

North American beverage volume fell 2% and food volume was flat in the third quarter. Growth in US salty snacks was offset by sales declines in Canada.

Profit tells a sharper story on the food side, where net revenue at PepsiCo Foods North America was flat year-on-year, while the unit’s core operating profit fell 12%. That unit’s core operating margin declined 280 basis points, reflecting affordability investments, the lap of a prior-year asset sale gain and higher advertising and marketing spending, partially offset by productivity savings.

On the drinks side, PepsiCo Beverages North America net revenue increased 5 percent in the third quarter, primarily reflecting contributions from acquisitions, net of divestitures. Its performance in carbonated soft drinks trailed category performance, and revitalizing its performance in that category is a priority.

Outside North America, international organic revenue growth accelerated to 8 percent in the quarter. PepsiCo expects North America’s core operating margin performance to remain under pressure in the fourth quarter. In October, PepsiCo lowered its outlook to adjusted EPS growth of 2.5% to 3.5%, down from an earlier range of 5% to 7%.

Is This Part of a Longer Run of PepsiCo Site Closures?

PepsiCo has made separate, earlier site cuts this year, and it closed a bottling plant in Knoxville, Tennessee, and laid off 112 workers, and those workers held positions across manufacturing, maintenance and warehouse services, based on a WARN notice.

The company has not disclosed whether production will be transferred to another site, and it has not publicly confirmed the reason for the Knoxville closure or a direct link to its wider cost cutting. Local sales and delivery teams will continue to serve customers in the Knoxville area.

Separately, PepsiCo will close its warehouse operations at its Pepsi Beverages’ Tulsa, Oklahoma, production facility, and the facility’s 184 warehouse employees will be permanently laid off, with each role on the WARN filing listing an expected separation date of November 15, 2026. PepsiCo is moving those warehouse duties to a new site in the Tulsa area, while production at the current plant continues.

The pattern goes back further, since in October 2024 PepsiCo unveiled plans to end bottling operations at sites in Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a move that affected nearly 400 workers, a figure BeverageDaily credits to the Associated Press. On the October earnings call, Laguarta signalled that everything that is not related to growth will not be part of the company.

We’re putting all the urgency of the business and the focus on improving our performance in soft drinks, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said, according to the BeverageDaily report on the Knoxville closure.

What Have Laid-Off PepsiCo Workers Received in Recent Cuts?

Two earlier PepsiCo cuts, the Knoxville bottling plant closure and the planned Tulsa warehouse shutdown, show what the company offered those workers.

In Knoxville, affected employees would receive a paid notice period through January 1 2027, including continued pay and benefits, along with access to employment and transition resources. The plant closed immediately, and the company is working to place employees at nearby facilities.

In Tulsa, a spokesperson listed assistance applying to work with the new logistics provider, pay and benefits continuation based on years of service, transition assistance and career support. For those Tulsa workers, PepsiCo was actively working to place them in other roles at the current Tulsa site or at nearby facilities.

Roles on the Tulsa WARN list include Checker, Forklift Operator, Inventory Control Specialist, Truck Jockey and Warehouse Person, among others. If you get a notice in this round, compare it line by line with those two packages.

Does the WARN Act Cover These PepsiCo Job Cuts?

Under the federal law, you must receive a written notice 60 days before the date of a mass layoff or plant closing if your situation meets its conditions. It generally covers employers with 100 or more employees, not counting those who have worked less than six months in the last 12 months and those who work less than 20 hours per week, or those with 100 or more employees, including part-time workers, who in the aggregate work at least 4,000 hours per week, exclusive of overtime.

The thresholds apply site by site, and a plant closing counts when an employer shuts down a facility or operating unit within a single site of employment and lays off at least 50 full-time workers. A mass layoff is one where, during any 30-day period, an employer lays off either between 50 and 499 full-time workers at a single site of employment and that number is 33% of the number of full-time workers there, or 500 or more full-time workers at a single site of employment. For certain multiple related layoffs, the count runs over a 90-day period instead of 30 days.

The law protects salaried staff too, since workers covered by WARN may be hourly or salaried workers, including managerial and supervisory employees. If an employer skips the notice, you may be able to seek damages for back pay and benefits for up to 60 days, depending on how many days’ notice you received.

Some employers pay instead of giving notice, though the law makes no provision for any alternative such as pay in place of a notice. An employer who pays workers for 60 calendar days instead, while still in violation of WARN, has generally already met the penalty specified in the Act. Workers on pay in lieu of notice can reach their nearest career center through the National Toll-Free Help Line at 1-877-US-2JOBS.

How Do You Apply for PepsiCo Jobs?

The PepsiCo careers site sorts its job search into career areas in Human Resources and Administration, Finance and Legal, Research and Development, Technology, Marketing and Sales, and Supply Chain Management.

Hourly work has its own section, and under U.S. Hourly Jobs the site groups openings into Manufacturing and Warehouse, Distribution and Delivery, and Sales and Merchandising. Its supply chain area covers Supply Chain, Transportation and Logistics, Warehouse, Maintenance and Security, Operations Safety and Production.

You can also register interest without a live opening, since the site invites candidates to join the PepsiCo Talent Community, where one sign-up shares your profile with recruiters who may consider you for future roles. The site also lists internships, and it invites new grads from engineering to law.

Where the company is still investing matters for your pitch. PepsiCo is scaling functional hydration, zero sugar, energy and protein in beverages, along with portion control, protein, fiber and simpler ingredients in convenient foods. Its away-from-home push targets local restaurants, fitness, workplace, and recreation.

What This Means for PepsiCo Workers and Food and Beverage Job Seekers, and What Should You Do Next?

The memo is about simplifying structures and making decisions faster, so anyone in PepsiCo North America should keep a record of results in growth areas ready.

• If you get a notice, read the dates first. Check whether it gives a written notice 60 days before the layoff date, or pay in place of it, and compare it with the Knoxville package above.
• Look at internal moves first. After the Tulsa notice, PepsiCo was working to place Tulsa staff in other roles at the current Tulsa site or at nearby facilities, so list the PepsiCo sites and roles you could move to.
• Aim at the growth lines. Frame your experience around functional hydration, zero sugar, energy and protein or away-from-home sales when you apply inside or outside PepsiCo.
• Refresh your materials now. Start with how to write a winning food and beverage director resume, and if a search drags on, read how to get hired after a long job search.

Lacey Kaelani, Metaintro's CEO, puts it this way: A restructuring memo tells you where the company plans to spend next. Read it like a job description, then show up with proof you can grow the brands it still wants to grow.

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People Also Asked

Q: How many jobs is PepsiCo cutting in North America?

A: PepsiCo is eliminating about 1,000 roles in North America, though the company has yet to confirm the exact number of employees affected.

Q: When will the PepsiCo layoffs happen?

A: Krishnan told staff that changes would come over the coming week, across parts of the organization, in a memo sent on Monday.

Q: Do laid-off PepsiCo workers get a WARN notice?

A: Under federal law, a notice is owed when a site meets the thresholds, such as a plant closing that lays off at least 50 full-time workers at a site, or a mass layoff during any 30-day period of between 50 and 499 full-time workers at a single site of employment that is 33% of that site’s full-time staff, or 500 or more full-time workers at a single site of employment.

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