PepsiCo has established Baking Category Innovation Center in Nuevo Leon, Mexico to expand the company’s research and development arm.
The new center in Apodaca is a part of PepsiCo's five-year plan to invest $5bn to strengthen its business in the country.
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi said the investments the company has made to strengthen its global research and development capabilities are driving successful new innovation across PepsiCo's global food and beverage portfolio.
"Mexico is a cradle of innovation for PepsiCo globally and this new center will fuel a wide range of exciting new PepsiCo products," added Nooyi.
The Baking Category Innovation Center features an advanced culinary center, development laboratories and a pilot manufacturing plant to pace up the production of new product innovations. It will employ over 100 people that would include chefs, nutritionists, food scientists and baking technology experts.
PepsiCo R&D director Alejandra Kamel said the new facility is mainly designed to be the center of excellence for PepsiCo baked products.
"Mexico is PepsiCo's third largest market, and we are sharing the expertise that we have in baking with other PepsiCo markets," added Kamel.
The center has collaborated with PepsiCo businesses in the US, Canada, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand for different projects.
PepsiCo's other facilities include New York beverage innovation center, Texas snacks innovation center, Illinois oats innovation center, German fruit and vegetable innovation center, and an Asian food and beverage innovation center in China.