Frito-Lay brand snacks returning to Loblaw stores after resolving pricing dispute

The high-level food fight between Pepsi-Co Foods and Loblaw has been resolved.

Consumers can expect to see Doritos, Ruffles, Tostitos and other Frito-Lay products stocked at Loblaw-owned grocery stores for the Easter weekend.

All along, this was about providing value to our customers," Loblaw spokesperson Catherine Thomas said in an email on Saturday.

We're happy to once again have a wide assortment in our chip aisle, with a mix of new Canadian flavours and classic favourites, at varying prices to suit our customers' needs," Thomas said.

Thomas said that products will begin shipping on Monday and we expect to be fully stocked before the Easter weekend."

The agreement includes the Frito-Lay and Quaker portfolios.

In an email sent by Loblaw to stores that was obtained by The Star, Loblaws said shipments are expected to return to normal quickly.

Beginning Monday, shipments will return and we can once again provide our customers with a wide range of assortment in our snack, breakfast and meal-maker aisles," the email said.

We encourage stores to continue to support any brands they added to their assortment during the service disruption with Frito Lay," the email continued. Loblaw has not made any commitments with Frito Lay regarding shelf space, so you are not required to allocate the same amount of space to them that they had before the service disruption. We will continue to support brands such as Old Dutch and Kettle Chips in flyer, so carrying these brands on shelf, on an ongoing basis, is encouraged."

The tensions meant Canadian consumers couldn't buy Doritos, Ruffles, Tostitos and other Frito-Lay brands at Loblaw-owned grocery stores.

The chips went off the shelves earlier this year after Frito-Lay attempted to increase prices it charges Loblaw Companies Ltd. for some products.

After Loblaw refused, Frito-Lay yanked sales at the grocery giant.

The tensions were stoked by supply chain issues and inflating food prices which heightened the pandemic.

We have now mutually resolved matters with one of our valued retail partners, and we thank our loyal consumers, our employees and our customer partners for their support through this challenging time," Sheri Morgan of Pepsi-Co said in an email on Saturday.

We are committed to our Canadian manufacturing and operations and look forward to resuming distribution of our products from coast to coast in the coming days," Morgan said.

There was no comment on who blinked first in the dispute.

As this is a confidential matter with a valued customer, I'm unable to provide additional details," Morgan said in her email.

The outcome is terrific," said Michael Graydon, chief executive officer of Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada, the national trade association representing Canada's food, beverage and consumer goods manufacturers.

We should see the shelves start to fill up fairly quickly," Graydon said in a telephone interview.

Graydon said he wasn't surprised to see things resolved.

It wasn't a matter of if," he said. It's more a matter of when."

I think it's very positive," Graydon said. It's unfortunate it got to this particular state."

The agreement was greeted as welcome news" by Sylvain Charlebois, a researcher and professor in food distribution and food policy at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

This feud didn't help the food industry overall," Charlebois said in a telephone interview.

With files from Rosa Saba