IN Brief:
- PepsiCo confirmed the immediate closure of its Knoxville bottling plant on 19 October 2026.
- Tennessee’s WARN register lists 112 affected workers and a 1 January 2027 employment termination date.
- Local sales and delivery continue, but PepsiCo has not identified where replacement drinks production will occur.
PepsiCo Beverages US has immediately closed its bottling plant in Knoxville, Tennessee, with 112 workers affected by the decision. The company confirmed the immediate closure on 19 October, while a workforce notice filed in Tennessee identifies 1 January 2027 as the employment termination date. Affected staff are being offered continued pay and benefits through that date, rather than a guarantee that bottling will continue until the new year.
The operation is located at 2708 Federal Road in South Knoxville. PepsiCo said the decision was difficult and thanked employees for their work. Its public statement confirmed that local sales and delivery teams would continue serving customers in the Knoxville area, distinguishing the end of production at the plant from the continued operation of the company’s local commercial and distribution activities.
The closure was communicated to employees on 19 October. The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development subsequently listed a WARN filing for Pepsi Bottling Group in Knox County, covering 112 workers and showing a closure or layoff date of 1 January 2027. Local reporting obtained the notice sent to state and city officials and identified the Federal Road address.
The state register names Pepsi Bottling Group as the employer for its Knox County filing. That record was posted on 20 October, a day after PepsiCo publicly confirmed the closure. Together, the company statement, the workforce notice and local reporting establish the main dates without implying the factory remained in production throughout the subsequent notice period.
These dates describe different elements of the same decision. PepsiCo’s own statement specifies immediate plant closure. The 1 January date appears in the workforce notification and the company’s explanation of the paid transition period. It should not be reported as the expected last day of production, nor should the paid notice period be taken as evidence that the bottling lines remain in operation.
PepsiCo said affected workers would have access to employment and transition resources in addition to continued compensation and benefits. The company did not disclose how many people worked in production, maintenance, warehouse or administrative functions, or give details of the assistance beyond the provisions outlined in its statement. The reported figure of 112 relates to this Knoxville operation and must not be applied to other PepsiCo facilities.
For beverage supply chains, the distinction between production and local sales is important. A manufacturing operation performs activities such as beverage preparation, filling, container handling, labelling and packing, while the distribution network serving retailers and other customers may operate through a different combination of facilities and personnel. PepsiCo has confirmed the continuation of Knoxville-area sales and delivery, but has not identified which plant or plants will supply those deliveries following the closure.
Nor has the company released the facility’s production capacity, equipment specifications or product mix. Without those details, it is not possible to quantify the manufacturing output removed from the network, identify specific filling lines affected or compare the plant’s throughput with other operations. Although those figures would help explain the operational implications, none can be inferred from the number of affected employees alone.
The company has also not disclosed whether equipment will be transferred or sold, whether inventories were moved before the announcement or whether further production changes are planned elsewhere. There is no verified basis for naming a receiving factory, estimating additional output at neighbouring sites or predicting shortages in the region. PepsiCo’s commitment to ongoing sales and delivery is the confirmed customer-facing continuity measure.
The Knoxville closure is separate from PepsiCo’s earlier decision affecting its bottling plant in Cheverly, Maryland, reported by IN Food at the beginning of October. Both concern beverage manufacturing, but involve different facilities and notices. PepsiCo has not identified an overarching production restructuring programme linking the two decisions in its Knoxville statement.
The workforce notice also has a specific legal and administrative function. WARN disclosures describe employment reductions and the dates relevant to affected workers; they do not, by themselves, provide a technical shutdown plan. In this case, the state record establishes the scale of the local workforce impact and a January termination date, while PepsiCo’s company statement establishes the immediate status of the manufacturing site.
Further information may emerge about the future use of the Federal Road property, the handling of plant equipment and the production network that will supply Knoxville-area customers. At present, the established development is a completed decision to close the Knoxville bottling facility immediately, affecting 112 employees, alongside a paid notice period extending to 1 January 2027 and the continuation of local sales and delivery services.
