Kraft Heinz reported Q2 2026 results and discussed its turnaround strategy, highlighting early signs of improvement in consumption and market share driven by increased investment. Management raised its investment plan by $100M to a total of $700M, expressing confidence in the trajectory into 2027. Underlying U.S. retail consumption declined ~2.5% in Q2, but improved to ~-1% in July, with management expecting sequential improvement in Q3 and Q4.
Kraft Heinz reported Q2 2026 results and discussed its turnaround strategy, highlighting early signs of improvement in consumption and market share driven by increased investment. Management raised its investment plan by $100M to a total of $700M, expressing confidence in the trajectory into 2027. Underlying U.S. retail consumption declined ~2.5% in Q2, but improved to ~-1% in July, with management expecting sequential improvement in Q3 and Q4.
Kraft Heinz reported Q2 2026 results and discussed its turnaround strategy, highlighting early signs of improvement in consumption and market share driven by increased investment. Management raised its investment plan by $100M to a total of $700M, expressing confidence in the…
Management sees improving consumption trends in the US, with July consumption down about 1% versus down 2.5% in Q2, and expects sequential improvement in Q3 and Q4. They highlighted green shoots in taste elevation portfolio, Capri Sun, and mac and cheese, and noted Heinz…
Market share losses improved significantly to -30 bps in H1, versus losing 90 bps at the start of 2025, with recent trends at -20 bps or better.
Guidance tone
Management sees improving consumption trends in the US, with July consumption down about 1% versus down 2.5% in Q2, and expects sequential improvement in Q3 and Q4. They highlighted green shoots in taste elevation portfolio, Capri Sun, and mac and cheese, and noted Heinz emerging markets grew 12% in the quarter.
Management did not discuss capital expenditure or capacity investment in detail; the focus was on marketing and product investment increases.
Management expressed confidence in the momentum of their investments and the ability to manage next year's inflation, while acknowledging ongoing challenges.
“I think you should think about the third quarter and the fourth quarter being broadly even in terms of how we spend that money.”
| Metric | Period | Range | Midpoint | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UnitsU.S._RETAIL | FY2026 Q4 | -1%–0% | -0.5% | GUIDED |
The company is phasing the additional $100M in marketing spend almost entirely into the second half of 2026, with Q3 and Q4 expected to be 'broadly even.' This implies a significant sequential step-up in marketing intensity that could pressure competitor shelf space and share in the back half of the year. — A major branded player significantly increasing marketing spend in the back half is a direct competitive threat to other packaged food companies, likely forcing them to respond or lose share.
Good morning and thanks for the question. I wanted to follow up a little bit on Andrew's question on 2027 and maybe focus it a bit more on the investment side. You noted earlier in the call that only around a third of the spend had kind of stepped up in the first half of the year. So I think that would imply like a $200 million step up, $500 million then comes in the back half of the year. One, any help on kind of how much of that step up comes in 3Q versus 4Q? And then when we start thinking about next year, Is a reasonable starting point looking at kind of the 4Q run rate and then extrapolating what that would imply for kind of the step up next year? Or are there more meaningful…
Yeah, again, I'll start. I think you should think about the third quarter and the fourth quarter being broadly even in terms of how we spend that money. and then as you think about 2027 again too early to give guidance but you should think about not necessarily a fourth quarter run rate but think about 2026 being the base year in terms of getting the investment level right and you know we mentioned this in the prepared remarks but I would like to underscore that you know we're spending the additional 100 million dollars because we can from a position of strength and you know if you're a share owner would you rather we spend too much or too little It's not an exactly precise science, but we felt $600 million was the right number, a very good number and a strong number. The fact that we can add $100 million to it really helps us think about 2027 being the year that we've got it really right with a very strong marketing spend in order to drive our volume-led, sustainable share-type growth. We like the way we're setting ourselves up for 2027. When we get to the fourth quarter results, we'll obviously give guidance against that. But I like where we are, and I think we're in a differentiated position versus some of our peers in terms of the investments that we're making and the momentum that we're starting to build.