Lay’s Shapes

February 2019

John Bows & James WilliamsPepsiCo R&D

John Bows and James Williams are employees of PepsiCo Inc. The

views expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do

not necessarily reflect the position or policy of PepsiCo Inc.

PepsiCo brands consumed 1 bn times a day

22 brands with more

than $1 billion annual

retail sales in 2017

More than 40 brands

$250 mn – $1 bn sales

$64bn net

revenue in 2017

PepsiCo is the first company in the UK food sector to

win an IOP Business Innovation Award

Development of breakthrough snack products

through application of soft matter physics

Multi-scale models & design tools

Lay’s Shapes launched

in 4 emerging markets

Business challenge was to meet consumer demand for Lay’s

in developing markets using local, low-cost ingredients

X-Ray Tomography showed typical differences in

microstructure between potato- and cereal-based snacks

Typical potato

•Small cell size

•Thicker cell walls

➢Crunchiness

➢Slow rate of

breakdown

Typical cereal

•Larger cell size

•Thinner cell walls

➢Crispiness

➢Faster melt in

mouth

Study of microstructure evolution during snack production

run in collaboration with Wageningen University

Prof. van der Sman

Programme of analysis &

characterisation to build

CDS model for potato-

based pellet snacks

Microscopy

Particle size distribution

X-ray diffraction

Complex Disperse System modelling was used to define

functionality of key constituents in foaming mechanism

Potato flake

(Swollen potato

cells)

Native tuber

(Crystalline potato

starch)

Filler Water

Extrusion

Bubble

Nucleation

Bubble

Growth

Shape Fixing

through glass

transition

By identifying the functionality of filler particles from potato, we

were able to derive equivalent functionality from other ingredients

to deliver a potato-like texture with much less potato content

After reducing potato content, target crunch and crispiness

could be restored by using native rice flour as filler particles

Fillers = Potato cells

& potato fibre

20% flakes;

replace with

potato starch

& tapioca

Thin cell walls

• Low crunch

• Fast melt

Add native

rice flour as

filler particleTarget crunch /

crisp restored

Technical breakthrough led to successful product launches

in multiple countries

2015: First products launched in single India stateNow: Indian national expansion &

launch in multiple other markets