PepsiCo Opens Food and Beverage R&D Center in Shanghai to Drive
Innovation and Growth Across Asia
SHANGHAI, Nov. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo, Inc.
(NYSE: PEP) today announced the opening of a new food and beverage
innovation center in Shanghai,
China. The state-of-the-art facility, which is PepsiCo's
largest research and development center outside of North America, will serve as a hub of new
product, packaging and equipment innovation for PepsiCo's
businesses throughout Asia.
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The new facility is equipped with an advanced culinary center
and test kitchens focused on developing and tailoring PepsiCo food
and beverage brands for distinct, locally relevant taste
preferences throughout the region. In addition, the facility
will house a pilot manufacturing plant that will allow researchers
to quickly test new product ideas and support efforts to
significantly accelerate the pace of PepsiCo's innovation in
China and other growing Asian
markets.
It is one of PepsiCo's most integrated food and beverage R&D
centers anywhere in the world, a combination that is designed to
unlock new opportunities for breakthrough innovation across the
company's diverse portfolio of complementary brands and enable
greater speed and efficiency throughout the entire R&D
process. The new Shanghai
facility will also work collaboratively with other PepsiCo R&D
locations around the world to share insights and best
practices.
"Innovation has always fueled PepsiCo's growth engine and
enabled us to build a portfolio of great-tasting, convenient food
and beverage brands that are loved by consumers around the globe,"
said Saad Abdul-Latif, CEO, PepsiCo
Asia, Middle East &
Africa. "The Shanghai facility is a game-changer for our
business that we expect will fast forward our innovation throughout
the entire region."
"PepsiCo continues to build global research and development
capabilities that are differentiating our brands in the marketplace
and driving attractive new growth opportunities," said Mehmood Khan, executive vice president and chief
scientific officer, PepsiCo. "This center will play an
important role in our global R&D network by bringing cutting
edge technology and innovation to our businesses in China and throughout Asia Pacific and partnering with other PepsiCo
locations to achieve new breakthroughs in other parts of the
world."
The new R&D center was built in line with the criteria
established by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED), the world's leading green building standard, and uses
advanced technologies and processes to conserve natural resources
and reduce operating costs.
The grand opening was attended today by Mr. Abdul-Latif, Dr.
Khan, and other PepsiCo leaders. Mr. Huang Feng, Deputy Director General, Ministry of
Commerce; Mr. Dai Hua,Vice Governor
of Minhang District, Shanghai and
other local officials and industry association senior
representatives also attended.
Mr. Dai said: "PepsiCo is one of the world's most successful
food and beverage companies, and we're proud that they continue to
grow and invest in China.
Shanghai is a vibrant business
center with a wealth of human capital, informational technology,
and commerce that continues to attract great companies like
PepsiCo. Multinational companies are playing an important
role in Shanghai's continued
development, and we look forward to having PepsiCo as part of the
fabric of Shanghai for many years
to come."
Tailoring Global Brands for Local Tastes
PepsiCo has a strong portfolio of global food and beverage
brands that includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. A
key focus of the PepsiCo Asian R&D center will be tailoring
these brands for regional consumer taste preferences and developing
locally relevant new products. PepsiCo has developed and
launched a number of locally relevant new products in Asian markets
in recent years, including:
- A series of popular new Lay's potato chip flavors, including
the successful 'cool range' featuring cucumber and ice lemon tea
flavors, as well as regional favorites such as hot and sour fish
soup and seaweed. Local flavors have played a key role in making
Lay's the world's largest food brand.
- Popular new flavors across the company's carbonated soft drink
portfolio, such as sour plum and peach flavors of Mirinda, one of
the world's largest flavored soft drink brands.
- Quaker Oats for Rice and Quaker Congees, made with whole grain
oats and locally relevant ingredients like red dates, wolfberry and
white fungus. These new items have helped drive Quaker's
overall growth throughout the region, where it is quickly
establishing itself as one of the largest cereal and nutrition
brands.
- Popular juice offerings, such as Tropicana Pulp Sacs juice
drinks sold throughout the region that were created to meet the
flavor and texture preferences of Chinese and Asian consumers, and
Tropicana CoCo Quench, a delicious new coconut water in
the Philippines.
- Smith's Extra Crunchy, a popular line of Australia's top-selling chip brand that comes
is a range of locally relevant flavors, including flame grilled
steak and honey glazed ham.
- Quaker NutriGo, a powdered oat-based beverage in the Philippines that offers the nutritional
benefits and great taste of Quaker Oats in a package that combines
convenience and value for Filipino consumers.
Driving Growth in Emerging Markets
China and the Asia Pacific region are key components of
PepsiCo's overall plan to drive growth in emerging and developing
markets globally. PepsiCo nearly tripled its business in
emerging and developing markets from $8
billion in annual net revenue in 2006 to $22 billion in 2011.
The opening of the new R&D center and pilot manufacturing
plant in Shanghai is the latest in
a series of steps PepsiCo has taken to strengthen its business
across Asia. During 2012, PepsiCo has:
- Completed a strategic beverage alliance with Tingyi to create
the number one liquid refreshment beverage system in China.
- Opened new beverage manufacturing plants in Kunming and
Zhengzhou, China. The
Tingyi-PepsiCo beverage system now has more than 70 manufacturing
plants across China and provides
consumers with several of the country's most popular beverage
products, including: Pepsi-Cola, China's top-selling cola; Mirinda,
China's top-selling flavored
carbonated soft drink; Gatorade, one of China's top-selling sports drinks;
China's top-selling tea and water
brands, sold under the Master Kong brand name; and China's largest juice portfolio.
- Opened a new Frito-Lay manufacturing plant in Wuhan,
China that is equipped with one of
the most advanced potato chip production lines in the world and
will support plans to fuel the expansion of PepsiCo's snacks
business in China, where Lay's is
the top-selling chip brand.
- Signed an agreement to form a strategic beverage alliance with
Suntory in Vietnam, where PepsiCo is one of the leading liquid
refreshment beverage companies. The alliance, which is subject to
the completion of legal processes, is designed to combine the
capabilities of both companies in ways that are mutually beneficial
to their businesses, customers and consumers.
- Signed a distribution agreement with Diamond Star, one of the largest consumer
packaged goods distributors in Myanmar, to distribute PepsiCo
beverage brands in the market.
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo is a global food and beverage leader with net revenues of
more than $65 billion and a product
portfolio that includes 22 brands that generate more than
$1 billion each in annual retail
sales. Our main businesses – Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay
and Pepsi-Cola – make hundreds of enjoyable foods and beverages
that are loved throughout the world. PepsiCo's people are united by
our unique commitment to sustainable growth by investing in a
healthier future for people and our planet, which we believe also
means a more successful future for PepsiCo. We call this commitment
Performance with Purpose: PepsiCo's promise to provide a wide range
of foods and beverages for local tastes; to find innovative ways to
minimize our impact on the environment by conserving energy and
water and reducing packaging volume; to provide a great workplace
for our associates; and to respect, support and invest in the local
communities where we operate. For more information, please visit
www.pepsico.com.
Cautionary Statement
Statements in this communication
that are "forward-looking statements" are based on currently
available information, operating plans and projections about future
events and trends. Terminology such as "believe," "expect,"
"intend," "estimate," "project," "anticipate," "will" or similar
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forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking
statements contain such terms. Forward-looking statements
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results to differ materially from those predicted in such
forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to: changes in demand for PepsiCo's products,
as a result of changes in consumer preferences and tastes or
otherwise; PepsiCo's ability to compete effectively; unfavorable
economic conditions in the countries in which PepsiCo operates;
damage to PepsiCo's reputation; PepsiCo's ability to grow its
business in developing and emerging markets or unstable political
conditions, civil unrest or other developments and risks in the
countries where PepsiCo operates; trade consolidation or the loss
of any key customer; changes in the legal and regulatory
environment; PepsiCo's ability to build and sustain proper
information technology infrastructure, successfully implement its
ongoing business transformation initiative or outsource certain
functions effectively; fluctuations in foreign exchange rates;
increased costs, disruption of supply or shortages of raw materials
and other supplies; disruption of PepsiCo's supply chain; climate
change, or legal, regulatory or market measures to address climate
change; PepsiCo's ability to hire or retain key employees or a
highly skilled and diverse workforce; failure to successfully renew
collective bargaining agreements or strikes or work stoppages;
failure to successfully complete or integrate acquisitions and
joint ventures into PepsiCo's existing operations; failure to
successfully implement PepsiCo's global operating model; failure to
realize anticipated benefits from our productivity plan; any
downgrade of our credit ratings; and any infringement of or
challenge to PepsiCo's intellectual property rights.
For additional information on these and other factors that could
cause PepsiCo's actual results to materially differ from those set
forth herein, please see PepsiCo's filings with the SEC, including
its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports
on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only
as of the date they are made. PepsiCo undertakes no obligation to
update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
SOURCE PepsiCo, Inc.