PepsiCo invests €127m in Cork expansion

Food and beverage giant PepsiCo is nearing completion on a €127 million investment at its Little Island manufacturing facility.

PepsiCo’s €127m expansion will see the opening of additional manufacturing capacity and further investment in its R&D campus.

The food and beverage giant currently employs more than 1,250 team members in Ireland. Over the last two years, its Cork based workforce has increased by more than 20%, with 642 of the total Ireland associate population based in the Little Island, Cork campus (inclusive of employees in Manufacturing and R&D locations). 

“We have called Cork home for almost 50 years, and our longevity is a testament to the dedication of our talented workforce”

The €127m investment for the campus has provided employment to over 700 professionals across PepsiCo’s contracting and vendor partners during design and construction, and also facilitates the ever-growing headcount at the Little Island campus.

Innovation pipeline

With more than 40 open roles in Cork currently, the site continues to grow and expand, and this investment provides capability for further growth in the coming years.

“We have called Cork home for almost 50 years, and our longevity is a testament to the dedication of our talented workforce,” said Brian Colgan, Site Lead, PepsiCo Little Island. 

“This very significant expansion will allow us to increase our manufacturing capacity and ensure that we can continue to meet the global demand for our existing and future products.”

Using state-of-the-art manufacturing technology, PepsiCo’s Little Island operation supports its portfolio of global brands including Pepsi Max, Gatorade, 7Up, Mountain Dew and Doritos. The new facility will expand PepsiCo’s Little Island manufacturing capacity across its range of beverage ingredients, support increased demand for existing PepsiCo products and play a key role in bringing PepsiCo’s innovation pipeline to its global customer base. 

PepsiCo’s R&D campus in Little Island provides regional and global leadership in the areas of beverage development, product research, testing and commercialisation, quality assurance, regulatory management and, most recently, facilitated the establishment of a global R&D Digital Engineering team, which is leading significant and transformational digital initiatives for PepsiCo.

“Continued investment in research and development is central to IDA Ireland’s strategy ‘Driving Recovery and Sustainable Growth’,” said Mary Buckley, executive director of IDA Ireland.

“This investment by PepsiCo is very welcome and demonstrates the company’s ongoing commitment to Ireland as it continues to grow its Irish operations nearly 50 years since it first established a footprint in Cork.”

John Kennedy
Award-winning ThinkBusiness.ie editor John Kennedy is one of Ireland's most experienced business and technology journalists.

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