Lightning Round: French Fries, Frito Lay, Kraft Foods and More

• The Butterfly Effect in action: a dockworker dispute on the West Coast has rippled outward to cause a critical shortage of potato imports in Japan, leading McDonald’s Japan to ration its supply by only selling Small orders of fries. ~ New York Times
• In other Japan-related news, NPR’s The Salt blog comes correct with the story of one of our favorite seasonal treats—the Japanese Christmas Cake—and how it became the tradition it is today. ~ NPR
• A changing of the guard: stating a need for swift business changes to keep up with a swiftly changing industry, Kraft Foods Group Inc has announced that Kraft Chairman John Cahill will be replacing its current CEO Tony Vernon. ~ Wall Street Journal
• Pressure from discount chains like Aldi and Lidl has every UK supermarket on a race to either the lowest prices or the best products to set each chain apart. ~ Yahoo
• Frito-Lay’s Tostitos brand has just launched “Tostitos Rolls!” which look an awful lot like a plain corn tortilla chip-flavored version of Doritos Dinamita. Needless to say we want some immediately.  ~ Potato Pro
• After thirteen seasons, longtime sponsor The Coca-Cola Company is finally terminating its partnership with American Idol. That probably says a lot more about the state of American Idol than any problems with Coca-Cola. ~ Billboard
• Constellation Brands has partnered with Owens-Illinois on a joint venture for position and operational rights to a glass production facility in Nava, Coahuila, Mexico. ~ Zacks.com
• Cargill and Unilever are striving to improve their palm oil production and supply chain, and Fortune is taking a look at how those efforts are going. ~ Fortune

[PHOTO CREDIT: flickr/mxmstryo]