PepsiCo invests €127m in Cork manufacturing facility

PepsiCo is nearing completion of a €127 million investment at its Little Island, Cork, manufacturing facility.

The capital will be used to open an additional manufacturing facility and further investment in its R&D campus.

The new facility, which uses state-of-the-art manufacturing technology, reinforces PepsiCo’s portfolio of global brands, including Pepsi Max, Gatorade, 7Up and Mountain Dew. The site will expand the company’s Little Island manufacturing capacity across its wide range of beverage ingredients.

In addition, it will also support increased demand for existing PepsiCo products and “bring its innovation pipeline to its global customer base,” said the company.

The R&D campus supports beverage development, product research, testing and commercialisation, quality assurance and regulatory management.

In the past two years, PepsiCo’s Cork-based facility has increased its workforce by more than 20%, with 642 of the company’s 1,250 Irish employees based in Little Island, Cork. 

According to the company, the investment in the campus has provided employment to over 700 professionals across PepsiCo’s contracting and vendor partners during the design and construction phase.

Brian Colgan, site lead at PepsiCo Little Island, commented: “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.”

Breda Kennedy, R&D senior director of PepsiCo, said: “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. Investment in our business has driven the growth of our R&D team, from just ten 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, added: “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.”