America's fast-food joints have been scrambling to bring back customers with value menus and the like, but a rebound hasn't happened fast enough for a company described by CNN as "America's french fry king." That would be Lamb Weston, the biggest supplier of fries in North America, which just closed a plant in Washington state and laid off more than 400 workers. The Idaho company also is cutting back on production at its remaining plants, which will pinch local potato farmers, notes the Idaho Statesman. The layoffs represent roughly 4% of the company's workforce.
"A supply and demand imbalance in North America and an ongoing inflationary environment necessitate these difficult steps," said CEO Tom Werner in a news release. A big problem is that the vast majority of fries consumed in America come from fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's—Lamb Weston's biggest customer—and people just aren't eating out as much. As for those value meals, they may not be helping as much as hoped, at least from Lamb Weston's perspective. "Many of these promotional meal deals have consumers trading down from a medium fry to a small fry," Werner said on an earnings call last week. (More french fries stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
