Shoppers at the grocery store often load their baskets with all kinds of snacks from one or more of the top producers who dominate the sector — Nestle, Pepsico, and Mondelez International.
You can’t miss Pepsico’s products, which include Frito-Lay’s Doritos, Cheetos, and Lay’s potato chips, just to name a few. Frito-Lay’s products are popular with consumers everywhere.
But sales of snack foods have been declining, as Pepsico saw its fourth quarter of 2024 revenue decrease by 0.2% and its Frito-Lay brand’s sales volume dropped by 3%, according to BakeryandSnacks.com.
Consumers blame the decline on more selective purchasing from inflation and higher borrowing costs and consumer focus on health and wellness.
The decline also has led to a downsizing of operations from snack manufacturers.
Aside from Pepsico, other major players like The JM Smucker Co., which purchased Hostess for $5.6 billion in 2023, have also seen declining sales in their Sweet Baked Snacks business, JustFood reported.
J.M. Smucker reported third quarter results, through January 2026, were below its expectations as sweet snack sales declined.
“In Sweet Baked Snacks, the path to stabilization is taking longer than we expected,” J.M. Smucker CEO Mark Smucker said.
“Profitability is below our expectations and particularly in our third quarter,” said Tucker Marshall, executive vice president of the Sweet Baked Snacks division.
Another sweet snacks company faced distress and bankruptcy in 2025, as national candy distributor CandyWarehouse.com Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy a week before Halloween on Oct. 24, 2025, to reorganize and restucture debt, facing a significant drop in its revenue earlier in the year.
Bankruptcy was not an option for a huge snack company that faced declining revenue.
Giant snack food and beverage company Pepsico said it will close its Frito-Lay distribution facility in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., as it seeks to balance its production with lagging demand, Food Dive reported.
Pepsico’s Frito-Lay division sent a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice to the California Employment Development Department and employees on Feb. 10, asserting that the company will permanently close the Rancho Cucamonga warehouse facility by June 6, 2026, and lay off 248 employees.
More closings:
