No chips for you: Frito-Lay in food fight with Loblaws

Got a craving for Doritos, Ruffles or Miss Vickie’s?

You’ll have to satisfy it somewhere other than Loblaws. Or Shoppers. Oh Zehrs. Oh Fortinos. Or any of the other chains owned by Loblaw Cos., after Frito-Lay Canada stopped shipping its snack-food brands to the country’s biggest grocery retailer this week amidst a pricing dispute.

Frito-Lay, owned by Pepsi-Co, said it was trying to pass on some of the increased costs from supply chain woes companies have faced during COVID.

“Our business has faced unprecedented pressures from rising costs of items including ingredients, packaging and transportation. To help offset these pressures on our Canadian operations and to ensure that we maintain the high quality our consumers expect, we have made adjustments to our prices that are consistent across the marketplace,” said Pepsi-Co spokesperson Sheri Morgan in an emailed statement.

“We are committed to our Canadian manufacturing and operations and our products remain widely available from coast to coast. As this is a confidential matter with a valued customer, I’m unable to comment further on this matter,” Morgan added.

LoblawCos. spokesperson Catherine Thomas says the retailer is focused on trying to keep prices down as much as possible for consumers, something she stressed is difficult to do when the entire food industry is struggling with cost increases.

“When suppliers request higher costs, we do a detailed review to ensure they are appropriate. This can lead to difficult conversations and, in extreme cases, suppliers don’t ship us products. We don’t comment on specific negotiations,” Thomas said.

There are already some bare shelves where the salty snacks should be; According to industry sources, big grocery stores typically get new shipments from Frito-Lay every two or three days.

In addition to Doritos, Ruffles and Miss Vickie’s, Frito-Lay also produces Lays chips, Tostitos, Cheetos, Rold Gold pretzels, and SmartFood popcorn.

With files from Rosa Saba