Fry sauce is a fantastic condiment to pair up with fries. Relatively easy to create as the two main ingredients are mayonnaise and ketchup. One of the fascinating things about the origin of products is how they’re attributed to other intellectual properties.
Who created Fry Sauce?
Don Carlos Edwards was the man behind commercializing the sauce.
In Provo, Utah, at Don Edwards’s Arctic Circle franchise, a “pink sauce” concoction emerged through the collaborative efforts of employee Ron Taylor and franchise owner Ellis Peay’s son, Max Peay. This innovative blend comprised a 2 to 1 ratio of mayonnaise to ketchup. Subsequently, in Las Vegas, another franchise owner, Archie Groft, refined the sauce by fusing Arctic Circle’s exclusive mayo burger sauce with ketchup. The resulting condiment, known as fry sauce, caught the attention of Don Edwards in 1958. Impressed, he promptly introduced this unique sauce across all his restaurants. The fry sauce recipe involves a mix of ketchup, mayonnaise, garlic, dill pickle juice, and a carefully guarded list of other ingredients. [1][1.1]
Arctic Circle is a classic fast-food chain that specializes in burgers, sandwiches, shakes, salads, fries, and fish and chips. According to Arctic Circle’s official website: “With over 70 locations in 7 different states, we’ve experienced solid growth for decades—and delivered several fast-food industry-firsts. And while we admit we’re a little biased, we think we’re in that sweet spot between small business and mega-chain. Every one of our restaurants has become a beloved part of their local community—and with 38 corporate-owned stores plus 33 franchise locations, we’ve got both the flexibility to stay nimble and the stability to provide every location with solid support.”
Arctic Circle Dominates Utah with about half of the 70 locations in Utah. The chain has establishments on the West Coast region including states like Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, and Utah.
One of the sad things about this amazing restaurant chain was the pullback of locations in my home state Oregon around the 2008 recession. Gresham’s Division Street[2] and Salem’s Capitol Street[3] locations are no longer around today.
You can use this Google Maps feature to see the old locations yourself. (click here)
A location in Hillsboro Oregon also existed decades ago in Downtown Hillsboro, where the remnants of Baker’s Burger still lingers in anticipation of demolition. Personal Source as well as this Redditor @tunaofdisapointment have shared memories of the location existing on r/hillsboro. from conversations from those who grew up in the 60s-70s, Arctic Circle used to be a big name in the food industry.
I recently visited Portland, Oregon’s remaining Arctic Circle. It is a time capsule to the past. The food is still fantastic and affordable for customers to enjoy. And the novelty of being able to purchase your own fry sauce bottle is an option. They even had kid’s meal toy boxes for families to purchase. I find it odd that the Original Fry Sauce Brand is nowhere to be found on online retailers like Amazon. 3rd party resellers like this listing relist the bottles at insane prices! I’m again surprised to find that Arctic Circle has no option to purchase bottles from their official website. Upon further research, it appears the East Coast folks don’t have access to fry sauce.
This YouTube video quickly shows you how to make that authentic-tasting fry sauce. Getting to experience Arctic Circle again for the first time in 14 years was a nostalgic blast!