Kraft Heinz bets $600 million on innovation to reverse losses

Kraft Heinz is asking investors to judge its turnaround by what shows up on shelves next year, not by this year’s still-mixed sales math. Chief executive Steve Cahillane said the company has set aside $600 million for marketing and research and development, and he expects the payoff to be more visible in 2027 than in 2026 as Kraft Heinz moves faster on product launches and execution.

The stakes are high. Kraft Heinz gets almost 70% of its sales from the U.S., where it is battling private-label rivals, shifting shopper preferences and weak consumer sentiment. Full-year 2025 net sales fell 3.5%, organic net sales dropped 3.4% and fourth-quarter organic net sales declined 4.2%, underscoring how far the company still has to climb. In its first-quarter 2026 results, net sales rose 0.8% and organic net sales fell 0.4%, a modest improvement that Cahillane said reflected early traction from the investments made in 2025.

Management is trying to prove that the problem is not just a lack of new products, but a slower system for getting them to market. Cahillane has pointed to changes in research and development, process improvement and resource allocation as the way to build a better innovation pipeline and bring more competitive products to market. Kraft Heinz has said the plan is meant to recover volume and market share while still producing strong free cash flow, a sign that investors are not being asked to choose between growth and discipline.

The clearest early test is Taste Elevation, the part of the portfolio Kraft Heinz has described as a must-win area. Cahillane said in May that the investments were driving early traction and improving market-share trends there. That is the kind of proof point investors and shoppers will watch next year: not broad corporate language about innovation, but visible gains in the products that define the company’s relevance in everyday grocery aisles, especially where value-conscious buyers can switch easily to store brands.

The $600 million commitment, announced on February 11, also came with a pause in work tied to Kraft Heinz’s planned split into two independent public companies. The timing matters because the turnaround is now being led by Cahillane, who became chief executive effective January 1, 2026, after Carlos Abrams-Rivera stepped aside and agreed to stay on as adviser through March 6. John T. Cahill took over as board chair in the same transition.

For Kraft Heinz, the next year has to show that the innovation push is more than a defensive slogan. It has to produce faster launches, stronger market-share trends and better performance in the U.S. business, where the company’s most important brands still have the most to lose.