HopCat: 'Crack Fries' name to change in new year

The Detroit News
"Our vision for creating an inclusive company that supports our communities, shows love for our team and best serves our guests is not compatible with the continued use of the Crack Fries name," Gray wrote.

The restaurant HopCat, which has a Midtown Detroit location on Woodward Avenue, will no longer refer to its popular seasoned fries as "Crack Fries," as it has since its founding in 2008, the company announced Tuesday.

Mark Gray, CEO of BarFly Ventures, which owns HopCat, wrote in a blog post Monday that the recipe won't be changing, just the name.

"Our vision for creating an inclusive company that supports our communities, shows love for our team and best serves our guests is not compatible with the continued use of the Crack Fries name," Gray wrote. 

Gray's post continued: "We chose the name more than 11 years ago as a reference to the addictive quality of the fries and their cracked pepper seasoning, without consideration for those the drug negatively affected. We were wrong.

"The crack epidemic and the lasting impact on those it affects is not funny and never was."

Gray writes that it was customers and HopCat employees whose feedback prompted the change, one he warns that won't happen "overnight," as new menus won't be printed until mid-January 2019. 

Gray did not say what the fries would be called after the name change. A company spokesman, Chris Knape, said the new name is still being finalized.

Since its founding in Grand Rapids in 2008, HopCat has opened locations in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Port St. Lucie and more — 17 in all, per its website.