People are only just realising the fascinating backstory behind a popular McDonald's burger | The Sun

MCDONALD'S fans may be surprised to learn the fascinating reason the fast food giant serves one of its most popular burgers.

The burger's backstory started in 1962 in Ohio when franchise owner Lou Greon was looking for a way to boost declining sales.

Lou owned a franchise in a predominately Catholic area of Cincinnati and noticed that his restaurant was always quiet on a Friday.

The reason for this was that some branches of the Christian church avoided eating meat on that particular day of the week.

Speaking to The List Show in 2015, Lou's son Paul explained how business was booming for one of their competitors, Frisch's Big Boy, which had a fish sandwich on the menu.

Not wanting to be left behind Lou came up with the idea of providing fish sandwiches to serve Christians who had given up eating meat on Fridays.

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He developed his own fried fish patty and tartar sauce, he added a slice of American cheese and put it all together in the classic McDonald's bun, and the Filet-O-Fish was born.

The Filet-O-Fish proved an instant hit with customers, but the founder of McDonald's, Ray Croc was not convinced.

Ray spoke of the burger in his 1977 memoir Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's, and said that he didn't like the idea as it had been "born of desperation".

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Lou's son Paul said Ray also thought the smell of fish would put customers off coming into the restaurants.

He said Ray's words were: "I'm not going to put fish in my restaurants and stink them up!"

However, Lou's fish sandwich went on to be a huge success with customers and outsold the chain's own meat-free burger on the first day of Lent in 1963, eventually winning the businessman over.

The same year the fish burger was introduced, Ray introduced the Hula Burger to stores across the US – which was a slice of grilled pineapple and cheese in a plain bun.

According to Paul, Lou sold 350 Filet-O-Fish burgers on that Friday, while only six people bought Hula burgers.

50 years on the Filet-O-Fish burger continues to be a popular choice for customers.

Paul, who also works for McDonald's, said: "It's a very successful sandwich in its own right throughout the year but on Lent and on Fridays especially, it's very much so."

McDonald's fans have shared their surprise over learning the fascinating story behind the burger-chains popular menu item.

One said: "Grateful for all the pioneers in the industry."

Another added: "When I was a kid, we went every Friday for a Filet-O-Fish at McDonald's. 

"We weren't religious, it's just what everyone did."

And a third Filet-O-Fish fan said: "I'm not religious but I have to have my Filet-O-Fish on Good Friday!"

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