Simplot was founded in 1929 by 20-years-old [[J. R. Simplot|John Richard Simplot]] near the agricultural community of [[Declo, Idaho|Declo]] in south-central [[Idaho]], United States. During the early 1940s, the business expanded, providing the military with dehydrated [[onion]]s and [[potato]]es during the [[World War II]].{{Cn|date=July 2022}} The firm was incorporated as the J. R. Simplot Company in 1955.
Simplot made billions from the commercialization of frozen [[french fries]] by one of its scientists, chemist Ray L. Dunlap. By the early 1970s it was the primary supplier of french fries to [[McDonald's]]. Since 2005 it supplied more than half of all french fries for the [[fast food]] chain.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=O’Keefe|first=Eric|date=2019-09-28|title=Top 5 Farms with the Largest Acreage in the U.S.|url=https://www.agriculture.com/farm-management/farm-land/top-5-farms-with-the-largest-acreage-in-the-us|access-date=2021-01-20|magazine=Successful Farming|language=en}}</ref> Simplot also produces fertilizers for agriculture<ref>{{cite journal
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Simplot is now one of the largest [[Private company|privately-owned]] companies in the world (ranked 54th in Private Companies by ''[[Forbes]]'' magazine in 2020),<ref>{{Cite web |title=America’s Largest Private Companies |url=https://www.forbes.com/largest-private-companies/list/ |access-date=2022-03-30 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> with $7.6B revenue and 13,000 employees. It has branches in [[Australia]], [[Canada]], [[Mexico]], [[China]], and several other regions. One of the major plants is in [[Caldwell, Idaho]].
[[File:J. R. Simplot Company "World's largest dehydrating plant".jpg|thumbnail|A view of the Simplot plant in Caldwell, Idaho, circa 1930-1945. The caption in the image states "World's Largest Dehydrating Plant."]]
