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This week, PepsiCo announced plans to grow its snack portfolio with the acquisition of Mexican American food brand Siete Foods for $1.2 billion.
While CEO and co-founder Miguel Garza said in a press release that the company is “excited to embrace a new era with PepsiCo and bring our inclusive, better-for-you products to more people,” some consumers have expressed concern over the deal.
The family-run brand, founded in 2014 in Austin, Texas by the Garza family, offers products like grain-free tortillas and tortilla chips, salsa, seasonings, and cookies. It’s distributed across 40,000 retailers, including Target, Kroger, and Walmart stores.
In the press release, PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta said, “PepsiCo believes in the spirit and authenticity of the Siete brand, and we're excited to carry on the legacy created by the Garza family.”
Since the news broke, some consumers have taken to social media to bemoan the deal. One video from TikToker @glutenfreesarah, explaining why she was “so incredibly disappointed and upset,” by the deal, received over 400k views and 2,200 comments. Several comments compared the deal to other recent food transactions, like Campbell Soup Company’s purchase of Rao’s, that led to perceived change in product quality.
Another TikTok showed a shopper filling her Target shopping cart with Siete products, the caption noting it was “time to find a new brand,” while one featured a Costco shopper “stocking up before the ingredients change.” A video with over 100k views, showed a user “eating my last Siete tortilla before Pepsi ruins it.”
Siete’s most recent Instagram post has over 1,900 comments, with many sharing similar concerns. The brand has responded to some, including one asking why it sold to PepsiCo (accompanied by several crying face emojis). “We are passionate about making and sharing inclusive food and gathering together in community, and this potential partner has the resources to take that mission even further for decades to come,” the company replied to one comment. In another reply to a question about ingredients, Siete wrote that it “put a lot of thought (and love!) into choosing ingredients that we feel good about using, sharing, and eating,” noting PepsiCo “believes in the Siete brand” and will “carry on the legacy.”
PepsiCo and Siete Foods did not return Retail Brew’s request for comment.