How the Filet-O-Fish Saved McDonald's
It took curiosity - and creativity to save a franchise
Greetings, friends!
Remember back in 2022 when a Burger King in central London re-opened as an entirely meat-free restaurant?
Maybe not, but I was curious when I read about it at the time!
However, their ‘Cheeeze & Bakon’1 burger wasn’t tempting enough for me to race to the tourist mecca that is Leicester Square to try it.
But it got me thinking about fast food restaurants – and how their menus have evolved over the years.
Vegan burgers may have sounded like an odd option for a hamburger chain, but do you know what else was once a considered a crazy idea?
McDonald’s serving a fish sandwich.
The Filet-o-Fish first debuted on April 20, 1962 – and this week, I went fishing for its backstory. (Sorry, I took the bait for that one. It was an easy catch!2).
So why did McDonald’s introduce the Filet-o-Fish?
I was curious…
It’s easy to look at the success of McDonald’s today and think you’d hit the jackpot if you were an early franchisee.
But, in 1961, McDonald’s franchisee Lou Groen was struggling.
Groen was running the first McDonald’s franchise in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, and things weren’t going well.
His sales were low – especially on Fridays.
“I was struggling,” Groen recalled years later.
“The crew was my wife, myself, and a man named George.
“I did repairs, swept floors, you name it.
“But that area was 87 percent Catholic.
“On Fridays we only took in about $75 a day.”
Groen’s Catholic customers didn’t eat meat on Fridays or during Lent, and he needed to find a way to improve sales at the restaurant.
He noticed that one of his competitors in town, Frisch’s Big Boy, was having a lot of success selling fish sandwiches.
Groen did his research, investigating what the Big Boy chain was doing right.
He developed a special batter, experimented with different recipes, and made the tartar sauce for his new fish sandwich.
Then he took his idea – the Filet-O-Fish – to Ray Kroc at McDonald’s headquarters.
But Kroc wasn’t convinced.
“I told Ray (Kroc) about it and he said:
“You’re always coming up here with a bunch of crap! I don’t want my stores stunk up with the smell of fish.’”
Groen did not know, but Kroc was also working on an idea for a burger alternative – the ‘Hula Burger’, consisting of a slice of pineapple and a slice of cheese on a bun.
So Kroc decided to make a wager with Groen to see which sandwich was more popular with customers.
“Ray said to me, ‘Well, Lou, I'm going to put your fish sandwich on (a menu) for a Friday.
“But I'm going to put my special sandwich on, too.
“Whichever sells the most, that’s the one we’ll go with.’”
On April 20, 1962 (Good Friday), the Hula Burger and the Filet-O-Fish sandwiches went head-to-head in selected locations.
And it was no contest.
“I won hands down,” Groen said.
“I sold 350 fish sandwiches that day.
“Ray never did tell me how his sandwich did.”
Some sources say six Hula Burgers were sold that day.
The Filet-O-Fish was a hit.
Though Groen wanted to use halibut, that sandwich was costing him 30 cents a piece to make — and McDonald’s told him he needed to get the price down to 25 cents.
“I had to fall bak on Atlantic cod,” he said, “and I added a slice of cheese.”
“But my halibut sandwich far outshines that one.”
But the modified Filet-o-Fish saved Groen’s franchise, and by 1965, became a staple on the McDonald’s menu nationwide.
Groen didn’t make any money for bringing the fish sandwich to the menu, but by the time he sold out in 1986, he owned 43 McDonald’s restaurants.
And McDonald’s reports that more than 300 million Filet-O-Fish sandwiches are sold every year — and 25 percent of them are sold during the 40 days of Lent.
Happy Easter!
Curious Minds is taking a short break while I travel overseas with the kids to visit family — and find Peeps.
Believe it or not these marshmallow treasures are not part of Easter candy in the UK.
America got the creme egg, but England did not get the Peeps!
How Can I Help?
I’ll keep saying it: Communication matters.
If you want to improve your communication (and get all the good things that come with that), I’m your gal.
So many companies could reap massive rewards – from performance and culture to retention and engagement – by improving their communication.
So, if you know someone who could benefit from some help (as even the most seasoned leaders do), please get in touch and check out my website for more information.
You can also see my Top 10 list of what I can (and can’t) do for you here.
And if you see any communication examples (the good, the bad, and the ugly) that you think are worth analyzing or sharing, please send them my way!
Stay Curious!
-Beth
That’s not a typo. They spelled it C-H-E-E-E-Z-E.
I’ll stop now. But I do love puns.
I’m astonished that any hula burgers were sold at all…
I had no idea! That Lent statistic is mind-blowing…