PLANO, TX — Snack food giant Frito-Lay has launched a search for an agency to handle its corporate communications business, PRovoke Media has learned.

Sources familiar with the process said the Pepsico company's review is currently underway. The remit recently belonged to BCW.

Frito-Lay did not respond to request for comment.

The review comes roughly a year after Frito-Lay concluded its search for an agency to handle its lucrative US PR business, which resulted in the company extending its partnership with Ketchum.

It also comes after the company was thrust into the public spotlight last July when about 600 Topeka, Kansas plant workers went on strike over working conditions, particularly mandatory overtime.

At that time, CBS News reported employees worked up to 84 hours a week as the company tried to keep up with increased demand during Covid. Employees returned to work 20 days later with a new union contract that guaranteed them one day off each week.

Frito-Lay, which merged with Pepsi-Cola to form Pepsico in 1965, has 29 brands including hallmark products like Fritos, Doritos and Cheetos. The $18 billion convenient foods business is the second-largest revenue generator of PepsiCo’s seven units.