One of the longest-running and most successful sandwiches at McDonald’s is the Filet-O-Fish. But it wasn’t always on the menu. It was created by an entrepreneurial Catholic who had a big problem and won a legendary wager.

The story goes back to 1962. Lou Groen had opened up the first McDonald’s franchise in Cincinnati, Ohio, but could not make a profit.

He quickly pieced together why: His restaurant was located in a Catholic neighborhood (Groen himself was also Catholic), Catholics didn’t eat meat on Fridays, and McDonald’s only served entrées with meat.

“My grandfather was losing his shirt,” explained Groen’s granddaughter, Erica (Groen) Shadoin, in an interview with the National Catholic Register. “The area is mostly Catholic. Everyone was going down the street on Fridays to Frisch’s restaurant that sold a fish sandwich.”

Groen quickly got to work on a solution. He created a special batter, made his own tartar sauce, and put it together into a new kind of fish sandwich.

But since he was franchising, he couldn’t start selling it on his own. So he took his new creation to McDonald’s headquarters and showed it to Ray Kroc, the CEO of the company.

Kroc wasn’t sold on Groen’s sandwich right away. Part of the reason was that Kroc had been working on his own meatless sandwich: the Hula Burger—a normal burger with a slice of pineapple instead of meat.

Kroc made Groen a wager: they would make Groen’s fish sandwich and Kroc’s Hula Burger available for one Friday at one location, and whichever sold more would be added to the national menu.

“At the end of the day, the score was Hula Burger, 6; Filet-O-Fish, 350. And the rest is history,” Shadoin recalled.

Groen’s fish sandwich was added to the national menu as the Filet-O-Fish and has been there ever since.

“My fish sandwich was the first addition ever to McDonald’s original menu,” Groen explained. “It saved my franchise.”

The Filet-O-Fish also became part of a larger family and faith legacy.

“My faith has been a huge blessing,” Shadoin said. “It has given me my foundation for life.”

Today, she owns the very franchise where her grandfather first introduced the sandwich, continuing a tradition of family involvement in McDonald’s that spans three generations.

And, boy, did his operation grow after that! When Groen finally sold his franchise 24 years later, he had grown his business to 43 McDonald’s restaurants.

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