Shane Parrish

McCain became the largest producer of fries for McDonald's worldwide, eventually supplying restaurants in over 60 countries.

The relationship that Harrison nearly destroyed with a single sentence became the backbone of the company's global food service business.

Even the McDonald's win didn't crack the American retail market.

Supplying restaurants was food service.

The grocery aisle where consumers picked frozen fries off the shelf was still dominated by American incumbents.

So Harrison needed one more play.

In March 1997, 16 years after that one sentence strategy memo, he finally pulled the trigger.

McCain Foods bought or Ida's food service division from H.J.

Hines for $500 million.

Overnight, McCain vaulted to number two in frozen appetizer sales in America.

They acquired nine plants and thousands of employees spread across the country.

But there was a problem.

McCain's American sales at the time were $325 million or Ida's were $550 million.

They were trying to digest a business larger than themselves.

A senior executive was blunt.

The merger was almost a catastrophe.

There was a culture war.

So Harrison brought a group of Oreida managers to Florenceville and walked them through the operation, told them about the company and where it was going.

The Oreida people were surprised by the roll-up-your-sleeves attitude by senior executives who knew the details of the production line, not just the P&L.

Most of the managers who made that trip were still with the company a decade later.