Can you explain again what you meant when you said that it pays to buy premium length French fries over the least expensive “line flow”?

That’s a good question. Rather than go into a lot of scientific detail, take a look at the example pictured below of two identical weight servings of frozen crinkle cut French fries from Idaho. The premium length potatoes on the left of the scale, especially when placed into a serving container, create more air space around the fries versus the assorted length fries pictured on the right. In a cup, for example, the long fries will peek out of the top of the container. The long, medium and mostly short fries will sink into the container. So, your staff ends up using more fries to make the containers look the same visually.

Here are a couple of other things to consider when purchasing a premium length, high solids content frozen fry:

• You get more fries (potato) and less water in the same size case
• It takes fewer strips to fill up the bag, plate or cup
• High solids means more potato taste in every bite (not diluted with extra water)
• Lower quality means less plate coverage