Filet'O'Life

Via BookofJoe: No Fish Story: Sandwich Saved His McDonalds, by Paul Clark, Cincinnati Enquirer

CINCINNATI — In 1962, Lou Groen was desperate to save his floundering hamburger restaurant, the first McDonald's in the Cincinnati area.

His problem: His clientele was heavily Roman Catholic. In those days, most Catholics abstained from meat every Friday, as well as during Lent, the 40-day period of repentance that begins this week with Ash Wednesday.

His solution: He created the Filet-O-Fish — a sandwich that saved his restaurant and eventually would be consumed at a rate of 300 million a year.

"Frisch's (the local Big Boy chain) dominated the market, and they had a very good fish sandwich," recalled Groen, now 89.

"I was struggling. The crew was my wife, myself and a man named George. I did repairs, swept floors, you name it.

"But that area (where his restaurant was located) was 87% Catholic. On Fridays we only took in about $75 a day," said Groen, a Catholic himself. "All our customers were going to Frisch's.

"So I invented my fish sandwich, developed a special batter, made the tartar sauce and took it to headquarters."

That led to a wager between Groen and McDonald's chief Ray Kroc, who had his own meatless idea.

"He called his sandwich the Hula Burger," Groen said. "It was a cold bun and a slice of pineapple and that was it.

"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.'

I wonder what happened? Now, excuse me while I go for a walk to buy a sandwich.