Loblaw Companies Limited finally reached an agreement with Frito-Lay following a trade dispute that caused several brands of potato chips to disappear from shelves in its grocery stores.
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“Deliveries will resume from Monday and we expect to be fully stocked by Easter,” Loblaw spokeswoman Catherine Thomas confirmed in a written statement sent to multiple media outlets.
Since February, the giant Frito-Lay had stopped supplying the businesses of the largest grocer in the country, including the Loblaws, Provigo, Maxi, Pharmaprix and Real Canadian Superstores chains, due to a disagreement over the price paid by Loblaw for buy the chips.
In doing so, many of Frito-Lay’s iconic brands, such as Lay’s, Doritos, Tostitos, Ruffles or Miss Vickies, disappeared from the shelves.
“We will once once more have a large assortment of potato chips on our shelves,” said the spokesperson.
However, the new agreement between Frito-Lay and Loblaw does not provide space reserved in the grocery store for the products of the subsidiary of PepsiCo. So other brands that had benefited from the removal of Frito-Lay’s products from shelves, such as Old Dutch and Kettle Chips, will still be available to consumers, Ms. Thomas suggested.
Hurt by the rising cost of ingredients, Frito-Lay had tried to sell more of its snack foods to Loblaw, which had flatly refused any increase. The processor had reacted by ceasing to supply the grocery stores of the Canadian group.
