Lamb Weston lays off 660 Mid-Columbia workers. Demand for french fries fizzles

Lamb Weston is closing two of its potato processing plants north of the Tri-Cities for three months and temporarily laying off 660 workers.

It is furloughing 360 workers at its Connell plant and 300 workers at its Warden plant for about 90 days starting Monday, June 15, said Shelby Stoolman, a Lamb Weston spokeswoman.

The plants make frozen french fries and other frozen potato products but the coronavirus has reduced market demand because of restaurant closures both in the United States and internationally.

“Unfortunately, due to restaurant closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen consistent decreases in demand over the last few months,” Stoolman said. “We do not need to operate all of our facilities to meet our current demand.”

Lamb Weston filed a layoff notice with the state this week.

This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 5:00 AM.