3 Price Cuts That Could Be Hitting Your Groceries, Now That Cheetos Are the Cheapest They’ve Been in Years

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PepsiCo recently lowered suggested retail prices on some snack products, including Cheetos, by up to 15%, as reported by CBS News. If the average price for a bag of Cheetos was $4.99, shoppers would save 75 cents with a 15% discount, bringing the price down to $4.24.

The decision came after the conglomerate heard consistently from consumers over the past year that rising food prices were causing them to struggle, according to Progressive Grocer.

While retailers still set their own shelf prices, grocery pricing strategies often focus on maintaining relative prices across product categories and brands — how the price of one item compares to similar items — which can influence how those related items are priced, according to the Annual Review of Resource Economics.

Here are some price cuts that could be coming to your grocery store soon. 

Other Name-Brand Packaged Snacks

Cheetos sit in a crowded snack aisle that includes similar foods like pretzels and popcorn. Customers often compare these products when deciding what to buy.

Because shoppers compare similar snacks, the new lower price on Cheetos can result in more shoppers choosing it. In response, there is a possibility that other name brands and retailers may then adjust promotions or pricing on competing snacks.

Store-Brand Snacks 

Retailers look at how store-brand prices compare with national brands when setting private-label pricing within a category, per Category Management Knowledge Group (CMKG), a data and analytics training company. If a store brand is priced too close to — or higher than — a comparable name brand, it can hurt store-brand sales, which is why retailers pay close attention to the price gap between the two. 

Sodas

Research by the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (IJBNPA) showed that salty snacks and soda are commonly purchased together, which means that snack price changes could carry over to the soda category. 

Additionally, AP News reporting also showed PepsiCo’s pricing changes are not limited to snacks. After raising North American beverage prices by 7% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and seeing weakened consumer demand, PepsiCo is implementing price cuts to boost sales. 

What This Means for Grocery Shoppers

A lower suggested price on Cheetos, other snacks and sodas does not mean that the cost of all groceries will fall. 

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) January 2026 Food Price Outlook, the prices of food-at-home, which includes groceries, are expected to increase 1.7% overall in 2026 — slower than the average price increases over the last 20 years. Additionally, prices for eggs, dairy products and pork are expected to be less than what they were in 2025. However, prices for food-at-home in the following categories — beef and veal, other meats, fresh vegetables, sugar and sweets, nonalcoholic beverages and other foods — are predicted to outpace their 20-year average rates of growth. 

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