Pioneer of Frozen French Fries Dies at 99;
J.R. Simplot was Oldest Billionaire in US

French Fry King J.R. Simplot, 1910-2009

J.R. Simplot, founder of his namesake company, who introduced the world to frozen french fries, died at his home in Boise, Idaho, May 25, at the age of 99. His was an all-American “rags to riches” story of a farmboy who grew up in a log cabin before striking out on his own to create an empire of businesses employing 10,000 people.

Simplot was ranked the 89th richest American in Forbes magazine’s 2007 list ($3.6 billion). He accomplished that, Forbes said, by seizing opportunities others overlooked, then perceiving how one success could lead logically to the next. But he put it down to simple hard work. The magazine said he was the oldest living billionaire on its list of the 400 wealthiest Americans.

The Potato King’s often-repeated advice on how to plow ahead in the competitive environment of commerce boiled down to this: “Work hard – that’s all. Don’t listen to others. If I’d have listened to my attorneys and bankers, hell, they’d have had me broke before I got started.”

An eighth-grade dropout, John Richard Simplot left his family’s Idaho farm at 14 after an argument with his father and went into the potato-growing business for himself – using money he got from selling hogs raised on his own slop formula of horsemeat and potatoes.

Starting with farm machinery, six horses and an electric potato sorter, he adapted quickly to new growing and processing techniques and was a millionaire by age 30. During World War II, the young entrepreneur reportedly supplied one-third of the dried potatoes and onions consumed by American troops – some 38 million pounds worth.

In the postwar boom for frozen and packaged foods in the USA, the J.R. Simplot Co. became dominant in its industry. Simplot converted his equipment to handle the demand for frozen french fries, instant potatoes, dried hash browns and frozen shoestring potatoes.

There had been earlier efforts to develop an acceptable frozen french fry, but a new market opened up after World War II, when freezer compartments became standard in refrigerators. One of Simplot’s researchers, Ray Dunlap, urged his boss to give him a freezer box so he could practice freezing vegetables.

“Hell,” Simplot answered, according to an article in Range magazine in 1998, “you freeze spuds and they will go to mush.”

But he bought Dunlap a large freezer anyway, and a few months later, Simplot tasted hot french fries that had been frozen. “My God, good product,” he said.

Legendary Deal with McDonald’s

In the mid-1960s, Simplot signed a contract with Ray Kroc, who built the McDonald’s Restaurant chain into an empire, to supply fries to Kroc’s then-budding enterprise. Simplot promised to build an entire factory just for McDonald’s. The legendary deal, sealed with a handshake, led to the creation of McDonald’s signature french fries.

Seeking assured supplies, Simplot invested in timber to make potato-shipping boxes and invested in phosphate mines to lower the cost of phosphate-rich fertilizer used in his fields.

Beyond potatoes on the foodservice front, his company expanded to offer everything from frozen vegetables, fruit and avocado products to an upscale line of IQF gourmet side dishes ranging from Pearl Couscous and Red Grains to Orzo Toscano.

It wasn’t until 1986 that J.R. Simplot Co. branched beyond serving the foodservice sector and got into the retail frozen food business in earnest with the introduction of MicroMagic french fries. A year later frozen sandwiches were rolled out, followed up in 1988 with the launch of the MicroMagic line of microwaveable meals featuring such bundled fare as a cheeseburger, fries and chocolate milkshake.
Venturing into beef cattle ranching, he accumulated one of the USA’s largest properties – a 137-by-64-mile spread near Paisley, Oregon.

At one point, the land he owned or leased for growing or grazing was about the size of Connecticut. “I guess I’m kind of a land hog,” he told the Portland Oregonian in 1996. Simplot served on his company’s board for more than half a century and even longer on the board of trustees at The College of Idaho.

Potato Chips to Computer Chips

While most of Simplot’s fortune was generated through investments in agriculture, food processing and real estate, in 1980 he successfully ventured into the high technology field of computer chip manufacturing. At the age of 71, he acquired 40% of what would evolve into Micron Technology, a major producer of memory chips for personal computers.

Profoundly patriotic, Simplot flew a huge American flag outside his house in Boise for many years, before moving into a downtown apartment at the Grove Hotel. “America is the greatest country in the world,” he told a reporter some time ago. “I’ve proved that you can be a success. I made it – and I started from scratch.”

The commercial house that Jack Simplot built reaches far from the United States, as the company operates potato and vegetable processing plants in Australia and China as well as a foodservice distribution arm in Europe. Just before the founder’s passing, his Australian business was reportedly on the verge of buying Mr. Chips, a french fry producer in New Zealand. According to a report in the New Zealand Herald, Simplot Australia had acquired 81% of the company and aims to build a processing plant on the South Island.