PepsiCo UK is investing £15.2 million in its Walkers snacks manufacturing campus at Leicester. The investment will support the introduction of a new production line making kettle-fried potato crisps, such as the Red Sky and Walkers Extra Crunchy varieties.

PepsiCo is also hiring 110 people as part of the expansion programme. First established in Leicester in 1982, the Walkers site, situated in the Beaumont Leys area of the city, employs over 2,000 people.

As PepsiCo celebrates its 30th anniversary in the area, a number of long serving members of staff are reaching retirement this year. PepsiCo is now looking to both fill these vacancies whilst also creating new roles as the site expands. In the past year alone, Walkers has employed over 300 people from the Leicester area to help boost the production team.

PepsiCo has invested £14.4 million and £9.3 million in its Quaker Oats site at Cupar, Scotland and its distribution site in Peterlee, respectively this year.

PepsiCo’s global ‘Banner Sun’ potato chip portfolio has grown to more than $10 billion in annual retail sales, anchored by Lay’s, the world’s largest food brand and the number one potato chip brand globally. The ‘Banner Sun’ logo – which appears on packaging for leading brands such as Lay’s, Walkers, Smith’s and Sabritas – has grown into a symbol for quality potato chips around the world. Lay’s and Walkers are among PepsiCo’s portfolio of 22 billion-dollar food and beverage brands, a number that has doubled since 2000 – further illustrating the strength of the company’s worldwide food and beverage business.

Expansion into international markets has driven the success of PepsiCo’s potato chip portfolio, with about 60 percent of ‘Banner Sun’ sales coming from outside North America. The top 10 markets are: the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Canada, Spain, Australia, China, Mexico, Netherlands and India.

“PepsiCo continues to focus on growing its largest food and beverage brands, and this milestone is another example of how our efforts are paying off,” says Salman Amin, PepsiCo’s chief marketing officer. “Whether it’s Lay’s, Walkers, Smith’s or Sabritas, PepsiCo has built some of the world’s strongest brands that are loved by consumers around the globe.”

PepsiCo uses culinary insights to tailor its chips to the local tastes of consumers in diverse markets around the world, with current best-sellers including Lay’s Magic Masala in India, Lay’s Red Caviar in Russia, Lay’s Numb & Spicy Hot Pot in China, Lay’s Cheese & Onion in the United Kingdom, Sabritas Adobadas (tomato & chili) in Mexico and Lay’s Classic in the United States.

PepsiCo has leveraged its global brand building strength to connect with consumers in meaningful ways and drive the growth of the ‘Banner Sun’ portfolio worldwide. For example, with the ‘Do Us A Flavour’ campaign, which first launched in the United Kingdomin 2008, PepsiCo was among the first companies to co-create new products with consumers by using traditional and social media to invite people to submit their ideas for new flavors of potato chips. PepsiCo has launched this campaign in 30 countries to date.

As one of the largest seed-to-shelf companies in the world, PepsiCo sources more than four million tons of potatoes a year for its products. The company works with local farmers to understand every aspect of the growing process and ensure a consistent supply of high-quality potatoes needed to make the chips consumers know and love.

PepsiCo has one of the world’s most powerful go-to-market systems, operating more than 100,000 routes, serving approximately 10 million outlets every week and generating over $300 million in retail sales every day. This ability to make, sell and deliver its products on such a large global scale has been instrumental to the growth of the ‘Banner Sun’ portfolio. Frito-Lay North America was one of the first companies to adopt a system for direct-store-delivery, enabling the company to reach more than 500,000 retail customers each week.

PepsiCo UK & Ireland is investing £9.3 million at its warehouse and distribution centre at Peterlee in the North East of England. The investment will enable PepsiCo to triple the size of its storage facility, which houses leading UK brands Quaker Oats and Walkers Crisps.

The new site will enable PepsiCo to take approximately 600,000 kilometres off the road each year by reducing delivery fleet distances. A number of ‘green features’ have also been introduced on-site, including a 100% rainwater harvested fleet vehicle wash, energy efficient cranes, low heating requirements and need-activated lighting, all of which form part of PepsiCo’s path to zero pledge. To minimise the building’s environmental footprint, 99% of the construction waste has been recycled.

For instance, packaging from the new, energy efficient cranes has been used to create on-site allotments for employees to grow their own fruit and vegetables. These allotments will help the Peterlee site maintain its zero waste to landfill status by using all organic waste from the on-site canteen for composting.

The  project at Peterlee is the second multi-million pound investment PepsiCo has made in the UK this year. PepsiCo is also investing £14.4million to increase the capacity of its Quaker Oats site at Cupar, in Scotland.

Jane Burkitt, PepsiCo UK’s senior supply chain director, comments: “We’re seeing impressive growth across our brands, including Quaker Oats which we store here in Peterlee. Quaker has grown in the UK by 22% in the last three years and, with such an increase in demand, we’ve not only invested to produce more but also to store more Quaker Oats as they begin their journey to breakfast tables across the country. Our expansion will help us to keep up with demand for many years to come.”

PepsiCo has selected the ten start-up companies from across Europe that will make up PepsiCo10 – a programme designed to discover and support emerging technology companies. Chosen from submissions of more than 130 impressive and innovative technologies, the 10 winners will now work with some of PepsiCo’s leading brands in the UK, including Walkers and Pepsi, to activate pilot marketing programmes, whilst receiving the support and mentorship of Highland Capital Partners, OMD, Mashable and Wired.

The selected PepsiCo10 start-ups in Europe include a wide range of social commerce and mobile technologies. They are:

* SDMV (Slingshot Shopping) (UK): is the work of two recent university graduates who have created a programme set to revolutionise digital commerce by allowing consumers to instantly place products in their existing online shopping baskets from any website, Facebook page or mobile device, at just the tap of a mouse.

* Shahmoon Ltd (UK): uses 46″ HD video posters to bring big-screen advertising to small scale stores, enabling businesses to interact with passers-by, feed live information or ‘tweet’ direct to the street.

* TvTak Ltd (France): is a mobile app, which lets users access additional content about a TV show or commercial they’re watching by pointing their smartphone or tablet at the TV for one second.

* SoDash Ltd (UK): is a social media monitoring tool which uses Artificial Intelligence to help companies manage their brand reputations, whilst also monitoring consumer insight and responses to their brand activity.

* Sports Team Space (Bluefields) (UK): is a social network helping hundreds of amateur football clubs across the country easily manage their leagues, teams and subsidies online.

* ParcelPoke (ParcelGenie) (UK): is the world’s first instant gift text messaging service that makes sending real products to friends and family as simple as sending a text message.

* ChartsNow.mobi Limited (UK): is an innovative and unique mobile music service that offers consumers instant access to the most current, hit chart music 24/7 on the majority of music enabled mobile phones.

* Screenreach Interactive limited (Screach) (UK): offers a unique platform that allows consumers to use the smart phone as a device to create real-time two way interactive experiences with public digi-screens or the mobile device itself. For instance, using mobile phones as a controller to play a game.

* Roamler BV (Netherlands):  uses a network of consumers as a mobile “workforce,” enabling them to earn rewards by performing small tasks on behalf of corporations, organisations and individuals.

* Waxwired Ltd (Flypost) (UK): is a location based smart phone game that lets users discover and interact in real-time with live events happening in their city.

Almost 500,000 cubic metres of water have already been saved as 36 of the UK’s leading food and drink manufacturers report their first full year progress on the voluntary Federation House Commitment (FHC) on water efficiency. This marks the sector’s first step towards achieving a 20% reduction in water use by 2020 compared to 2007, working with sustainability experts Envirowise who jointly launched the initiative with the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) in January 2008.

Companies including Cranswick Food Group, Dairy Crest, Greenvale AP, Mars UK, R&R Ice Cream, United Biscuits, Walkers, and William Jackson Food Group have contributed to a collective reduction in water use of 1.7% during 2008. Together signatories will have saved almost £500,000 in the purchase of water alone, not including the cost of water treatment and effluent disposal.

Andrew Kuyk, director of sustainability and competitiveness at the Food and Drink Federation, remarks: “The food and drink manufacturing sector is a significant water user and has an important role to play in helping to reduce stress on the nation’s water supplies. While there is still much to be done to achieve the 20% by 2020 target, we are delighted to see FHC members already making a positive impact on the environment.”

Water-saving measures being implemented by FHC members include improving water recovery and re-use, rainwater harvesting, cleaning-in-place and dry cleaning operations – as well as domestic changes such as fitting more efficient taps and toilets.

“The opportunities for water saving range from simple low-cost solutions through to those which require capital investment and greater lead-in times – offering benefits over the longer term,” points out Claire Sweeney, water specialitst at Envirowise. The FHC is open to all companies in the food and drink manufacturing sector.