French Fry Facts
This country and Belgium both claim to have invented the French fry.
What is France?
This term describes how much money a company earns before costs are deducted.
What is revenue?
Clarence Birdseye revolutionized frozen food with this rapid-cooling process.
What is flash freezing?
Keeping frozen food at the right temperature from production to customer is known as this.
What is the cold chain?
Fries topped with cheese curds and gravy form this iconic Canadian dish.
What is poutine?
These long, thin, crispy fries are named after their resemblance to shoestrings.
What are shoestring fries?
Food companies often hedge this volatile agricultural input category to stabilize costs.
What are commodities (or raw materials)?
The invention of this kitchen appliance helped restaurants quickly cook food and accelerate the rise of fast food.
What is the deep fryer?
This inventory metric shows how long a company can operate before running out of stock.
What are Days on Hand (or Days Forward Coverage)?
In the U.K., fries are known by this name.
What are chips?
This fast-food giant standardized the thin-cut fry and helped spread fries globally starting in the 1950s.
What is McDonald’s?
This strategy includes selling fries, appetizers, and related products directly to restaurants, rather than retail consumers.
What is foodservice?
The popularity of TV dinners surged after the widespread adoption of this household appliance.
What is the microwave oven?
Many food companies rely on these partners to store and transport frozen goods to distributors.
What are third-party logistics providers (3PLs)?
In this country, “shake-shake fries” come with seaweed, cheese, or chili seasoning packets.
What is Japan?
These thicker, crispy-outside, fluffy-inside fries are often cut into wedges and double-fried for texture.
What are steak fries?
These large chains—like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Burger King—make up this segment of the food industry.
What is QSR (Quick Service Restaurants)?
Modern food plants often use these automated machines to rapidly fill and seal packages.
What are form-fill-seal machines?
Fry plants improve texture by cooking products partially before freezing using this technique.
What is par-frying (or blanching and par-frying)?
Belgium and the Netherlands serve these twice-cooked fries, usually paired with mayo.
What are frites?
This common potato variety, prized for its high starch content, is the most widely used for making frozen fries.
What is the Russet Burbank?
This metric measures how responsive demand is to changes in price—a critical factor for products like fries and apps.
What is price elasticity?
Advances in this scientific discipline improved potato disease resistance and increased yields after WWII.
What is plant breeding (or hybrid varietal development)?
Creating backup manufacturing or transportation paths during disruptions is known as this resilience strategy.
What is supply chain redundancy (or multi-path routing)?
This South American country is home to “salchipapas,” fries mixed with sliced sausage.
What is Peru?