The History of Filet-O-Fish Isn’t As Simple As Someone Coming Out With a Recipe

Last Updated on 2021-11-18 , 6:52 pm

McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish is well-loved by everyone, from the young to the old. It is a good choice for those of us who did not want to have too much meat but yet still want to have our burger fix.

Now with the double nacho-cheese Filet-O-Fish, it is even more popular with the crowds who stand in line at every McDonald’s outlet.

However, did you ever wonder how the Filet-O-Fish come to be? McDonald’s is a restaurant that serves American meat patties, and not fish. Read on to find out how the humble battered fish filet comes about.

Back in the early days of McDonald’s in the United States of America, McDonald’s was not a popular brand. The McDonald’s brothers Richard James McDonald and Maurice James McDonald had only began to franchise their stores in 1953 to grow their business in the United States.

Lou Groen, a businessman, took the franchise in 1959 and opened the first McDonald’s in the Cincinnati area, Ohio. He operated the burger joint out of a small place with 2 registers and no inside seats. It was not a popular choice amongst the local people as most of them would choose the more well-established burger joint Frisch’s in that area.

On the opening day, Lou made a grand total of USD$307.38 in sales. That was not enough for his family and they were struggling to make ends meet with 3 children. In the first month of the business, Lou made only USD$8,716 in sales, which was not even enough to cover the margins (based on inflation, that is about USD$74K today).

He had to get his children to work in the restaurant without pay for the first couple of years and yet they were still struggling to cover cost.

Lou later found out that he had made the wrong choice in location, for the population in Monfort Heights, Ohio was 87% Catholic. Catholics do not eat meat on Friday due to their beliefs. On Fridays, Lou made only USD$75 for a whole day of work. It was made worse during the month of Lent, where Catholics abstained from meat the whole month. It was just not working out for him.

Lou knew that he had to come up with something new and fast to survive in the competitive market. He noticed that his competitors had something which he did not have – a fish sandwich. He knew that this was the answer to his problem and he need to have a fish sandwich in order to survive.

Lou went to work immediately on the creation of a fish sandwich. He researched what was good at his competitors and tried out many different recipes. Finally, he arrived at the simple, battered, halibut-based fish filet named the Filet-O-Fish.

He bought this up to the franchising agent, Ray Kroc, in 1961 who rejected his idea outright in his first attempt. That was because Ray had an alternative to the meat problem too. He wanted to introduce the “Hula Burger” – a piece of grilled pineapple and cheese on a bun.

After persistent visits from Lou, Ray came to a compromise. Both the Filet-O-Fish and the Hula Burger would appear in the menu on Good Friday 1962 in selected locations to “test the market” for their preferred choice. On the launching day, Filet-O-Fish won hands down in the competition 350 to 6.

It was a victory for Lou as he managed to turn the tables for his business. He had started selling the Filet-O-Fish in his own outlet on February 13, 1962. (Back then, the franchise was not strictly controlled like how it is now). Sales exploded and by the first month in 1962, Lou had sold a total of 2324 fish sandwiches.

This was the first time that McDonald’s had a fish sandwich, and it prospered from then on. In 1963, the white fish that we see today was introduced to replace the halibut used to make the fish filet. By 1965, the Filet-O-Fish had become a staple in the nationwide menu among the rest of the burgers.

The popularity was owned partly because real fish was used by McDonald’s to make this sandwich all these years. Never was anything else substituted in the burger. In January 2011, McDonald’s made a further commitment to only use fish from sustainable sources. They added a blue “ecolabel” from Marine Stewardship Council that certified that the Alaskan Pollock used in the sandwiches come from places with sustainable fishing practises. Today, McDonald’s gets all its fish in the United States from a single Alaskan Pollock fishery.

Today, McDonald’s sells a variety of Filet-O-Fish. From the original to the Double Nacho Cheese Filet-O-Fish, every bite of this yummy burger draws a sign of satisfaction from the consumer.

Lesson to learn? Problems will always come. The best businessperson is one who can solve problems – any problem thrown to him.

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