A Man Who Helped Make J.R. Wealthy

Published in The Idaho Statesman May 9, 1982

Ray Dunlap says he helped make J.R. Simplot one of Idaho’s richest men, but he reaped little gain from that distinction.

Dunlap is relatively unknown, even though his inventions form the foundations of the J.R. Simplot fortune.

His salary during his decade-long job as chemist and food technician at Simplot’s Caldwell plat was about $6,000 a year.

Now a self-employed businessman Dunlap lives in a modest apartment and makes a modest income -$10,000 last year – from the two equipment companies he owns.

For the past 20 years, he operated his business Ray L. Dunlap and Co., out of a 150-square foot office in the basement of his Caldwell home.  The business went with him when he and his wife, Alice, moved to Salt Lake City.  Dunlap now runs the businesses from a machine shop and a bedroom in his home.

Asking Dunlap to recall his years at the Simplot Co. brings forth a variety of emotions toward his former employer, who operates a multi-million dollar empire from a plush executive suite at the top of One Capital Center in downtown Boise.

I would have liked to have some compensation for work done.” Dunlap said “Some people may have thought $6,000 a year in 1955 was a big salary, but there was a lot of guys getting more than that.

“But why get bitter?  You get a little unhappy, but you have the opportunity to go out and make for yourself the same thing that Jack did.”

In 1942, Dunlap left a job as a mining chemist to organize Simplot’s quality control laboratory where he and several other workers tried to perfect products and develop new ones.

At the time, the Caldwell plant was producing dehydrated onions and potatoes for the military.  Then the war ended, and Simplot began looking for a consumer product that would reap profits without the military’s demand for dehydrated goods.

Dunlap in 1944 decided to try freezing potatoes, hoping for the same appeal the public held for frozen peas and carrots.

He turned to the French fry.

At the time, restaurant cooks fried the potato strips for two minutes, (now referred to as blanching) then set them aside and refried them another five minutes before serving.

Another method was to keep the raw fries in a sodium solution to prevent discoloration and fry them before serving.

“Fries had been invented, but frozen ones had not.”  Dunlap said. “So we started tossing things around in the lab.”

Three weeks later he made the historic breakthrough.

Dunlap’s method was to pre-fry the potatoes for two minutes at 380 degrees F, then freeze them.

Cooks could then quickly prepare the frozen fries by dropping them in a fryer for two minutes – a process that cut cooking time nearly in half.

The result was a convenient, quick method of making French fries with an improved taste, because freezing make the insides meaty, with a soft center.

It was the cornerstone of Simplot’s post-war business, but Simplot recalls being skeptical when Dunlap told him he wanted to freeze potatoes.

Said Simplot, “He (Dunlap)” said, “If you get me a box, I think I can get some frozen potatoes I can sell.” I said “If you freeze a potato, you’ll get water” that’s all I ever knew.  Then he brought frozen fries into me.  I couldn’t believe it and from then on, we never quit.”

Dunlap recalls being distraught over how Simplot handled the discovery.  He said Simplot got so excited about the new product that he told a friend who was an Army food supplier on the East Coast.  His friend got equally excited and within a month, began marketing frozen potatoes, Dunlap said.

“Jack doesn’t like to admit that,” Dunlap said. “He wasn’t very pleased.  He kicked himself because he was the one who opened his mouth.  It was unwise.  You’ve got to keep yourself quiet about those things.”

The Simplot Co. at first was unable to obtain a patent on Dunlap’s discovery because the processing formula had been publicized, Dunlap said.

Simplot said it took him several years to get the patent because he initially failed to do the necessary legwork.

“I had the patent filed, but I didn’t fight the battle to get it,” he said.  “It took a lot of time and a lot of money and I didn’t have that much then.”

He said he obtained the patent several years later.

Dunlap said a more difficult task was making a commercial success of the instant mashed potato.  The process was being used by other firms, but the Simplot Company was the first to produce the item in large volume, Dunlap said.

It took him about three years to perfect the process, which involves mashing cooked potatoes and mixing them with dry powdered potatoes to reduce overall water content.

It was another invention that made the Simplot Co. a booming success, Dunlap said.

However, Dunlap had his problems as a Simplot employee.  This rising potato king had a shrewdness for business, but lacked the ability to deal with personnel problems, Dunlap said.

“He (Simplot) would select people sometimes that were very difficult to deal with, “ Dunlap said.

Dunlap left the Simplot Co. in 1955.

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