Did you or your company purchase Frozen Potato Products directly from Lamb Weston, McCain Foods, J.R. Simplot, and / or Cavendish Farms at any time since January 1, 2018? 

Grabar Law Office is investigating alleged anticompetitive conduct by major Frozen Potato Products producers. Frozen Potato Products include items such as frozen French fries, hash browns, wedges, tater tots, frozen mashed, and frozen skins.

We believe that businesses and people that purchased Frozen Potato Products directly from Lamb Weston, McCain Foods, J.R. Simplot, and / or Cavendish Farms have standing to bring antitrust claims.

WHY? The Frozen Potato Products market is highly concentrated with four companies controlling 97-98% of the market – Lamb Weston 40%; McCain Foods 30%; J.R. Simplot 20%; and Cavendish Farms 7-8%.

At the start of 2018, the major Frozen Potato Product producers were all announcing plans to expand their capacity.  At this time, Lamb Weston’s CEO warned the industry during a stock earnings call of the effects of “unsustainably high levels of utilization” and suggesting Lamb Weston (and presumably the industry) needed to “maintain discipline in our business and maintain our pricing, maintain our discipline.”

Despite the capacity expansion and COVID 19, the prices of Frozen Potato Products remained constant.

More interestingly, all four producers began to increase prices dramatically starting in 2022 with price increases increasing in frequency and in lockstep.  At the same time, the production input costs had gone down substantially leading to record margins:

From July 2022 to July 2024, Frozen Potato Product prices increased 47%. During that same two-year period, Defendants’ input costs declined. Their input costs peaked around the third quarter of 2022, and declined substantially after that, but Defendants’ Frozen Potato Product prices continued to rise. Defendants’ prices remained near their peak from October 2023 to July 2024 despite input cost’s decline of about 33%.

WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW? If you or your company purchased Frozen Potato Products directly from one or more of the producers referenced above at any time since January 1, 2018, you may have been overcharged and may be entitled to recover financial damages and may also be able to seek a court approved service award, at no cost to you.

A sample no-cost retainer form can be viewed here: Frozen Potato Products - Sample Retainer Letter

If you would like to learn more about this matter, you are encouraged to contact us at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085.