When was the filet o fish

Fridays are supposed to be one of the busiest days of the week for restaurants, but sales at the Ohio McDonald's took a nosedive every Friday leading up to Easter. Franchise owner Lou Groen went to McDonald's founder Ray Kroc with the plan of adding a meat alternative to the menu to lure back Catholic customers. He proposed a fried halibut sandwich with tartar sauce though meat is off-limits for Catholics on Fridays during Lent, seafood doesn't count as meat.

Kroc didn't love the idea, citing his fears of stores smelling like fish, and suggested a "Hula Burger" made from a pineapple slice with cheese instead. To decide which item would earn a permanent place on the menu, they put the two sandwiches head to head at Groen's McDonald's one Friday during Lent.

Fast Food McDonald's Sandwiches. Business Advice. Best Practices for Restaurant Text Marketers. Consumer Trends. Customer Experience. Inside the Rise of the Game-Changing 'Chipotlane'. Restaurant Operations. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Log out. US Markets Loading H M S In the news. McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich — the first non-hamburger item added to the fast food giant's menu — went nationwide in Groen came up with the idea when he discovered that the Catholic practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays was hurting his business.

After seeing a McDonald's ad in a magazine, Groen opened his first golden-arched restaurant in Cincinnati in He also purchased the franchise rights for the city and northern Kentucky. McDonald's was far from the only burger joint on the block in those days, and the market was crowded and competitive. Before the Second Vatican Council took place in the mids, Roman Catholics were supposed to abstain from eating meat on Fridays.

As it happened, Groen's hamburger-centric eatery happened to be located in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood. Groen's son Paul told "The List Show" that the restaurant was really beginning to struggle because his father 'wasn't doing any business on Fridays. But Kroc hated the idea. He described his initial reaction in his book: "Hell no! I don't care if the Pope himself comes to Cincinnati. He can eat hamburgers like everybody else. We are not going to stink up our restaurants with any of your damned fish.