René Arend (1928–2016)
was a Luxembourgish American chef who served as the first
executive chef
A chef de cuisine (, French language, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that Supervisor, leads a kitchen and its cooks. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef is a chef ...
for
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...
. He is best known for creating several of McDonald's popular menu items, including
Chicken McNuggets and the
McRib
The McRib is a barbecue-flavored pork sandwich periodically sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. It was first introduced to the McDonald's menu in 1981.
After poor sales, it was removed from the menu in 1985. It was ...
sandwich.
Early life and career
Arend was born in Luxembourg and graduated at the top of his class from the College Technique de Strasbourg in 1952.
He began his culinary career at the Continental Hotel in Luxembourg before immigrating to the United States in 1956. He subsequently worked at the luxury
Drake Hotel in Chicago, and in 1959, won a gourmet contest with his dish, "supreme de poularde Amphitryon".
He later worked as the executive chef at Chicago's Whitehall Club for 14 years.
Career at McDonald's
In 1976, Arend joined McDonald's as its first executive chef, recruited by founder
Ray Kroc and CEO
Fred L. Turner to expand the menu. Initially, Arend declined Kroc's offer, stating, "I'm a chef, I don't believe in hamburgers."
Arend eventually relented and chose to work for McDonald's, stating he was influenced by Kroc's persistence, better hours and benefits, and the opportunity to reach a broader culinary audience.
One of Arend's significant contributions to McDonald's was the development of the Chicken McNugget. Prior to this success, Arend experimented with other chicken-based menu items, including a deep-fried chicken
potpie and bone-in
fried chicken
Fried chicken, also called Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or ...
, neither of which proved commercially viable.
Ray Kroc then tasked Arend with developing "onion nuggets", a bite-sized onion ring-like dish. However, Arend pivoted back to chicken at the suggestion of Fred Turner in 1979 and began work on a chicken nugget product.
Over the following 14 to 16 months,
Arend developed the Chicken McNugget formulation and the initial accompanying sauces:
barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...
,
sweet and sour
Sweet and sour is a generic term that encompasses many styles of sauce, cuisine, and cooking methods. It is commonly used in East Asia and Southeast Asia and has been used in English cuisine, England since the Middle Ages.Clarissa Dickson WDickson ...
,
hot mustard, and honey.
Subsequently, Bud Sweeney led efforts to optimize the breading, conduct market testing, and establish production technology. McDonald's contracted with
Keystone Foods for mechanized chicken processing and
Gorton's for batter and coating refinement to facilitate industrial-scale production of Arend's formulation.
Test marketing of the Chicken McNugget began in
Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
, in March 1980, with extremely positive initial sales results that resulted in a chicken supply shortage.
After shortages were resolved, McDonald's launched the Chicken McNugget nationwide in 1983, resulting in a rapid increase in McDonald's market share of fast food poultry.
Arend also collaborated with animal science professor Roger Mandigo to create the McRib, which debuted in
Kansas City-area McDonald's in 1981, before a nationwide release in 1982.
Inspired by
pulled pork barbecue he tried in South Carolina, Arend designed the McRib to resemble a rack of ribs, despite being a boneless pork patty.
Its creation was, in part, a response to the popularity of the Chicken McNugget and a resulting chicken shortage, along with McDonald's desire for additional menu options.
[
]
Retirement and death
Arend retired from full-time work at McDonald's in 1990,
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arend, René
1928 births
2016 deaths
Luxembourgian chefs
McDonald's people