New York city may be the ‘Big Apple’, but McCain Foods Ltd., is the ‘Big Potato’. McCain Foods Ltd., has recently spent $600 million so as to double the size of its processing facility in southern Alberta. That’s a lot of money - and, as the saying goes, ‘no small potatoes’. The Toronto-based food company, which boasts that it makes one in every four french fries produced world-wide, is making the largest-ever investment in its corporate history! And, this is to double the output in its processing facility, just east of Lethbridge, Alberta.
Demand for french fries and other frozen potato products collapsed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and corresponding restrictions on in-person dining. However, there is expected to be strong and continued growth over the next several years, as the restaurant and hospitality sectors recover.
The new Alberta facility will use wind turbines and solar panels to provide 100% renewable energy. And, in 2021, McCain made a commitment to ‘regenerative agriculture’, pledging that by 2030, it will only source potatoes from farms employing practices that actively seek to improve and revitalize soil health and quality.
Federal government statistics indicated that potatoes are the fifth largest primary agricultural crop in Canada, after wheat, canola, soybeans and corn. And in 2021, potato growers across Canada produced approximately 5.7 million tonnes of potatoes, with P.E.I. being the top potato-producing province, followed closely by Manitoba and Alberta.
Concerning potato production, approximately 35% of all potatoes grown are either for french fries (28%) or potato chips (7%). The popularity and consumption of french fries has increased over many decades, especially given the onset of fast-food chains and frozen-food products, starting in the 1950’s. McDonalds uses 7% of all potatoes produced in the U.S. on an annual basis, and accounts for about one third of all french fries sold in the restaurant trade. About one quarter of all potato production in the U.S. is used for french fries, and the average adult consumes about 30 lbs of fries every year -just salt and malt.
McCain Foods began operations in 1953, in Florenceville, New Brunswick. And french fries was their main focus right from the beginning. They never let-up. They now produce about one third of the world’s supply! And, it was said that a contract with McCain Foods, was a pretty good ‘pension plan’.
And why are french fries so popular? French fries are more than just food, there are very often the go-to ‘fix’ for a quick snack or meal -and, are an all-round comfort food. And, of course, have become the natural complement of fish. Poutine and pickle fries, for example, are all part of product proliferation, and increased consumption.
Foods like french fries fall under the category of ‘hyperpalitive foods’, foods that stimulate the reward centre of the brain, triggering the release of ‘feel-good chemicals’ such as dopamine, that can keep people in a constant state of craving - almost to a point of addiction. As human beings, the need for salt, fat and sugar, is primal, and are hard-wired to ‘feed this habit’.
At the onset in 1953, the McCain brothers, Harrison and Wallace, had a choice. Sardines or French fries. Good choice, guys! While McCain Foods may not have a monopoly in the frozen french fry business, they have a tremendous ‘following’. And, one might say, the ‘Taylor Swift’ of the frozen food industry. And if not quite ‘album of the year’, they ‘went platinum’ a long time ago