The County Cork site produces top global brands including Pepsi Max, Gatorade, 7Up, Mountain Dew and Doritos.
Celebrating nearly 50 years in Ireland
With a presence in Ireland since 1974, PepsiCo currently employs more than 1,250 people in the country.
Over the last two years, its Cork based workforce has increased by more than 20%, with around half of its Irish workforce now based at the Little Island, Cork campus.
PepsiCo’s R&D campus in Little Island works 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 digital initiatives for PepsiCo. There are currently 40 open roles at the site.
In addition, the investment at Little Island has employed over 700 professionals across PepsiCo’s contracting and vendor partners during design and construction.
“We have called Cork home for almost 50 years, and our longevity is a testament to the dedication of our talented workforce. 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,” said Brian Colgan, Site Lead, PepsiCo Little Island.
“This latest investment in our R&D campus delivers state of the art laboratories for several quality and research teams and a new contemporary digital solutions suite,” added Breda Kennedy, R&D Senior Director, PepsiCo.
“Investment in our business has driven the growth of our R&D team, from just 10 people in 2007 to more than 130 today. This continued investment will further strengthen our ability to attract the best talent across digital, engineering, analytics, food science, sensory and microbiology.”
Mary Buckley, Executive Director of IDA Ireland - a statutory agency set up to encourage foreign investment in Ireland - said: “Continued investment in research and development is central to IDA Ireland’s strategy ‘Driving Recovery and Sustainable Growth’. 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.”