Why Fries Are the Superheroes of QSR Menus

It’s a bird?! It’s a plane?! It’s…french fries!

Indeed, the true superhero of the quick-service restaurant (QSR) menu has been hiding in your combo meal all along.

In fact, fries are so beloved they have their own special day—National Fry Day is celebrated on the second Friday of July each year, shining a spotlight on a longtime sidekick that often steals the show as a traffic driver, profit booster, and craveability creator.

Whether traditional, crinkle-cut, shoestring, curly, or waffle, the versatile fry transcends demographics, loved by everyone from Gen Z to Boomers. As we get ready to celebrate this heroic favorite, consider how essential fries are to the QSR menu.

Consumers can’t get enough

Just how popular are fries? Consider these statistics:

• A whopping 90% of U.S. consumers love fries.¹

• Fries are in the 99th percentile for consumption, meaning they are more regularly consumed than 99% of all other foods, flavors, and beverages.¹

• Fries score high across every single demographic, including gender, age, ethnicity, and location.¹

Indeed, few foods are as universally loved and consumed as fries. They have earned their superhero status.

The underrated QSR MVP

With this type of consumer love, it’s no wonder that fries have become an operational superhero. In fact, half of all QSRs in the U.S. offer some type of fry on the menu.¹

Consider:

• Those high consumer scores make fries a clear traffic driver. It’s not uncommon to see consumers on social media arguing about their preferred fry shapes or types, saying they’ll go out of their way for the “best” option. Fry innovation increases craveability, while limited-time offerings, loaded fries, seasonal variations, etc., grab attention and differentiate an operator. Consider these tactics to draw consumers in the door. Marketing unique fry offerings pays off—consumers notice.

• Fries have long been profit powerhouses, with a cost-to-profit margin that outshines many other menu categories, particularly these days when costs for many proteins have been skyrocketing. High-quality fries and more fry innovation offer plenty of perceived value in the consumers’ eye, driving that cost-to-profit margin higher and higher.

• Consumers love to customize, particularly in familiar platforms where they feel comfortable trying something new. Offering customers the ability to increase the heat/spiciness level of their fries, shake on their own spice blends, choose from a variety of dipping sauces, etc. makes fries a canvas for customer creativity (and it can offer updated fry experiences a lot faster than you can develop a new entrée, which is so important with today’s fast-moving trend cycles).

• Fries can be a side, but they’re increasingly the star of the menu item. Loaded fries that are piled high with meats, cheeses, and veggies rival any nacho offering, while the growth of poutine in the U.S. has repositioned any saucy, cheesy loaded fry offerings as an entrée.

• Fries are portable and snackable. Delivery- and takeout-ready fry solutions like Simplot Conquest® Delivery+® Fries—with an unprecedented 40+ minute hold time—offer QSRs a customer favorite on their terms, whether they’re snacking in their car or enjoying a meal at home. Want to take snacking to the next level? Consider options like fry flights with different shapes, types, or flavorings.

Fries: No longer the burger sidekick

While every superhero needs a great sidekick, fries have earned their own superhero cape on QSR menus. Consider burgers, the focus of many QSR menus across the country:

• Consumers consider burgers and sides to be a package deal, with 87% of restaurant operators saying that their patrons almost always eat sides with their burgers.²

• What’s the side of choice? Fries, of course. 88% of operators offer fries with burgers, making them far and away the most offered side (and an additional 6% plan to offer them in the future).²

• That doesn’t include tater tots, which over half (55%) of operators offer with burgers, while 54% offer sweet potato fries.²

And offering fries matters to consumers:

• Over half (54%) of consumers say that the type and quality of fries offered is important to choosing a burger at a restaurant, while 66% of Gen Z say the same thing.

• When considering burgers, fries are more important than how convenient the restaurant is, the bun, the grade of beef, and how quick the service is in consumers’ minds.²

• Over a third of consumers say they are willing to pay more for a burger meal that has the type of high-quality fry they want.²

• Overall, fries are far and away the most appealing side offered with burgers, with 80% of consumers agreeing.²

In other words, the classic fry and burger combo isn’t just nostalgic—it’s essential. And that includes offering them with the next generation of burger trends: globally-inspired burgers, smashburgers, premium and chef-driven burgers, Oklahoma onion burgers, chicken burgers, etc. Consider how you can pair unique, high-quality fry offerings and flavors with the next-level burgers on your own menu to create a truly differentiated, craveable, high-impact item.

The takeaway

As we approach National Fry Day, consider how fries have not just become superheroes of the QSR menu, but how you can help them fly even higher. They have earned a place as more than just a side, helping to foster innovation, add excitement and craveability to the menu, increase traffic and profits, and even build brands.

So this July 11, raise a crispy, salty fry up in celebration. There’s no hero more powerful or popular, on the QSR menu.

¹ Fries Report, Datassential, June 2025
² Burgers Keynote Report, Datassential, June 2025