Ohio McDonald's owner with Filet-O-Fish ties receives chain's top award
Alex Perry, Cincinnati Enquirer
Fri, December 5, 2025 at 3:46 PM UTC
2 min read
One of the highest honors McDonald’s bestows recently came to an Ohio franchisee, and it’s continuing a family tradition of successful restaurant ownership.
Erica Shadoin is now among just 40 McDonald’s franchisees to earn the 2026 Fred L. Turner Golden Arch Award, the company’s top honor. Her connection to the brand goes back decades — she’s the granddaughter of Lou Groen, the Cincinnati native who created the Filet-O-Fish and saved his restaurant.
Here's more about the Ohio origins of the McDonald's Filet-O-Fish and how it came full circle generations later.
Ohio McDonald's owner Erica Shadoin wins restaurant's top award, continues Filet-O-Fish legacy
The Filet-O-Fish has been around for more than 60 years.
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The McDonald's seafood staple wouldn't be on the menu if it weren’t for Lou Groen, who created the Filet-O-Fish in 1962. At the time, Catholics abstained from eating meat on Fridays during Lent, the 40 days before Easter, and Groen saw sales drop.
Groen decided to create an alternative that was generally acceptable to eat during Lent, according to U.S. Catholic. "I invented my fish sandwich, developed a special batter, made the tartar sauce and took it to headquarters," he told The Cincinnati Enquirer in 2016. That led to a battle between Groen and McDonald's chief Ray Kroc, who was preparing his own meatless alternative that consisted of a slice of pineapple between two buns called the Hula Burger.
The sandwich that sold the most would be added as a permanent fixture to the menu. "Friday came and the word came out. I won hands down. I sold 350 fish sandwiches that day," Groen said. "My fish sandwich was the first addition ever to McDonald's original menu," he added. "It saved my franchise."
According to McDonald's, Lou Groen's son Paul Groen left his legacy to two of his children, Grant and Erica, retiring from the business in October 2023. Erica became an approved McDonald’s Owner Operator in 2014, and the Groen family owns dozens of McDonald’s locations in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.
How many McDonald's locations are in Ohio?
Ohio is home to 618 McDonald's restaurants, according to the web scraping tool ScrapeHero.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio, KY McDonald's owner earns top award, has family ties to Filet-O-Fish