US – Frito-Lay, a division of US snack and beverage giant PepsiCo, has announced an investment of US$200 million into the further expansion of its Rosenberg site in Texas, US. 

The new capital injection will be used to add two manufacturing lines for its onion-flavoured corn snack brand Funyuns and tortilla chips, as well as increase the capacity in its warehouse. 

The expansion is in addition to a US$138 million investment in the site announced back in 2019 – which will see Frito-Lay add a new Cheetos line and new seasoning and packaging equipment.  

The Rosenberg facility currently employs more than 750 full-time plant and fleet associates and produces more than 117 million pounds of snacks per year. 

Frito-Lay says the  latest project will create an additional 160 new, full-time jobs and is anticipated to be completed by 2023. 

According to the company, the Rosenberg site has the largest footprint of any Frito-Lay facility in Texas, producing snacks for Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas and Georgia, as well as several other parts of the country during peak demand. 

“We’ve called Rosenberg home for nearly 40 years. Throughout that time, the support of Fort Bend County has helped us invest in the right areas so that we can continue to grow and provide jobs to the community,” said Laura Maxwell, senior vice president of supply chain, PepsiCo Foods North America. 

In may this year, Frito-Lay announced it was investing US$245 million into the expansion of its snack manufacturing site in Connecticut, marking the first time that Cheetos will be made in the state. 

Work on the expansion is slated to begin next spring and expected to reach completion by the second quarter of 2024. 

An additional 120 new positions are expected to be added to the Connecticut facility as a result of the recent investment. 

Meanwhile, Frito-Lay won a case challenging the validity of Snyder’s registration of ‘pretzel crisps ’ as a federal trademark.  

In the ruling, US Federal judge Kenneth Bell decreed that a single company cannot monopolise the term ‘pretzel crisps’, despite concerted efforts by Snyder’s since 2009 to register it as a federal trademark. 

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