Pepsi is closing its Knoxville plant and cutting 122 jobs — 11 days after reporting a $3.07-billion quarterly profit

Laura BoastWed, October 21, 2026 at 10:30 AM UTC

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PepsiCo [NASDAQ:PEP] has announced the immediate closure of its Knoxville, Tennessee bottling plant, informing 122 employees that their salaries and benefits would wrap up Jan. 1.

This follows PepsiCo’s September closure of another bottling plant in Cheverly, Maryland, which stunned 100 affected workers and town officials, per the Washington Post.

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In an official statement shared with Moneywise, PepsiCo Beverages U.S. stated that shutting down the Knoxville plant was a “difficult decision” and that the company was “incredibly thankful for the contributions of our employees and the support of the community.”

The corporation said it is committed to providing support for workers as they transition to new employment in the coming months.

The company reported a third-quarter net income of $3.07 billion just 11 days earlier.

But the writing was on the wall in CEO Ramon Laguarta’s latest earnings call. He told investors he was disappointed with the soft drink side of the business — the business PepsiCo was built on.

“We’re putting all the urgency of the business and the focus on improving our performance in soft drinks,” Laguarta said. “We’re cutting costs in many areas.”

The cost-cutting has included shutting down bottling plants in the past few years. In October 2024, the food and beverage giant announced it was shutting down bottling operations in Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania — affecting nearly 400 workers, per the .

So how does Laguarta add fizz to soft-drink financials while throttling down production?

Doubling down on core Pepsi sodas and healthier options

Even with the closures announced to date, the company still has plenty of capacity to manufacture and distribute beverages. It has plants throughout North America and 17 sites under Pepsi Bottling Ventures, its partnership with the Japanese multinational Suntory Holdings.

Meanwhile, Laguarta says he’s adjusting how the company promotes its mix of soft drinks for a more bubbly bottom line. The trade publication Consumer Goods Technology reports that he plans to double down on investments in the company’s core Pepsi lineup and Mount Dew — as opposed to its other soft drinks, like Crush, Dr. Pepper, and Mug Root Beer.

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Another piece of the strategy? Marketing healthier options. Susan Houseman, a senior economist at the Upjohn Institute, told the Washington Post that soft-drink manufacturers like PepsiCo are seeing a drop in demand for sugar-filled sodas — one of the reasons that plants like the company’s Cheverly site have closed.

That’s why Laguarta plans to focus on sports drinks like Gatorade and Propel, as well as Alani, an energy drink it distributes through its partnership with Celsius Holdings. It is also promoting Poppi, a line of prebiotic soft drinks it acquired for $1.95 billion in 2025.

Coca-Cola [NYSE:KO] is doing the same, launching a new prebiotic line called Simply Pop, as Food Dive notes. But unlike Pepsi, Coca-Cola plans to expand its infrastructure.

Read More: Here’s the average income of Americans by age in 2026. Are you keeping up or falling behind?

Pepsi’s big red rival plans to invest $10 billion in infrastructure

In September, around the same time Pepsi announced it was closing its Cheverly, Maryland plant, Coca-Cola revealed its plan to invest $10 billion in expanding existing facilities and building new ones in the United States.

Unlike PepsiCo, Coca-Cola does not own its own bottling plants. It has local, independent bottling partners worldwide. Coke develops and markets the product; the local partners take care of manufacturing and distribution.

That means these partners are contributing to the $10-billion infrastructure initiative.

Sites on tap for expansion include Rancho Cucamonga, California; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Indianapolis, Indiana; Birmingham, Alabama; Coopersville, Michigan; St. Cloud, Minnesota; Orlando, Florida; and Webster, New York.

Time will tell whose strategy will be successful in the latest Pepsi versus Coke competition.

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Source: “AOL Money”