Which company is credited with commercializing frozen French fries in the 1940s?

The J. R. Simplot Company is credited with commercializing frozen French fries in the 1940s. Its work helped turn fries from a labor-intensive fresh product into a standardized food that restaurants could store, transport, and cook quickly.

The Idaho-based company experimented with potato processing during and after World War II. Simplot employees developed a process involving cutting, blanching, frying, and freezing the potato strips. That sequence preserved much of the desired texture while making the product practical for commercial kitchens. Simplot made its first commercial sale of frozen French fries in the late 1940s, commonly dated to 1946 in company histories.

This achievement is sometimes confused with the later rise of other major frozen-potato brands. Ore-Ida became famous for frozen potato products and tater tots, while Lamb Weston later became a major global fry supplier. Those companies are important to frozen potatoes, but the historical credit in this question points to J. R. Simplot.

Simplot’s frozen fries later became especially influential in fast food, where uniform portions and dependable cooking times were essential.