Canada: How McCain Foods keeps its family-business feeling at global scale

“Would you like some fries with that?” If you said yes—anywhere in the world—odds are one in three you were served a McCain Foods french fry. Not an insignificant accomplishment for a family of potato farmers from the small village of Florenceville, New Brunswick province in eastern Canada, who built the world’s largest manufacturer of frozen potatoes. Founded by Harrison and Wallace McCain, as well as their brothers Andrew and Robert, in 1957, McCain Foods Limited celebrated its 60th anniversary this year by investing more than $1 billion into its plants and facilities. For Shai Altman, president of McCain Foods (Canada), that investment aptly captures the company’s long-term strategic thinking, focus on its core values, and commitment to sustainable growth. “We constantly refocus our business to areas where we have competitive advantage,” Altman says. McCain’s careful attention to growth strategies is one of the reasons it’s recognized as a Best Managed Company by Deloitte. More