PepsiCo Says Gas Prices Cutting Into US Consumer Food Spending

“In the U.S., we’re seeing the consumer changing behaviors, basically an acceleration of some of the behaviors we saw in the past,” CEO Ramon Laguarta said during an earnings call. “Probably some channels, more the impulse channels, have been impacted, where there is more of a correlation with the price of gas. Certain convenience stores … we’re seeing a slowdown of the conversion of traffic into purchases. We’re seeing that. Now, will it change in the coming months? It all depends on the price of gas , clearly that’s something that is beyond our control.”

“We need to see some improvement in the convenience and gas channel,” Steve Schmitt , the company’s chief financial officer, said later in the call. “Hopefully we’ll get some tailwinds from gas prices to do that. We’ll continue to push the productivity side.”