The Fast Food Conspiracy: French Fry Mogul JR Simplot Is Dead

TABLOID Baby sees the cull of fast food moguls:

Tell us we’re “conspiracy nuts” now. After a strange “coincidental” trio of fast food chain founder’s deaths in the first three months of 2008, we began to keep close tabs on the mortality rate in the controversial industry, only to be shocked by the sudden passings of one of its legends and another pioneer.

That would be five deaths in the first five calendar months of 2008:

Carl Carcher, founder of Carl’s Jr. (January 11);
Lovie Yancie, founder of Fatburger (January 23);
Al Copeland, founder of Popeye’s Famous Fried Chicken (March 23);
Herb Peterson, inventor of the Egg McMuffin (March 25);
Irvine “Irv” Robbins, co-founder of Baskin-Robbins (May 5).
Today, we add another to the list.

J.R. Simplot, the billionaire king of the frozen French fried potato, supplier of fries to McDonald’s and other fast food chains– the man whose product literally greased the skids for the rise of the fast food industry– died on Sunday, May 25th.

The LA Times notes:

“Simplot’s sale of frozen fries to McDonald’s and other chains accelerated the growth of the fast-food industry and changed the nation’s eating habits, according to Eric Schlosser, author of ‘Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal’ (2001).

“’Americans have long consumed more potatoes than any other food except dairy products and wheat flour,’ said Schlosser, who called Simplot ‘America’s great potato baron.’”

Simplot drove around Idaho in a Lincoln Continental with the license plate “Mr. Spud.”

He was 99.

Like the ice-cream…

Labels: celebrity death, conspiracies, fast food

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Posted: 28th, May 2008 | In: Anorak In New York, Food & Fat Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink