Herb Peterson created the Egg McMuffin, introduced by McDonald’s in 1972.
Peterson was a McDonald’s franchisee and former corporate executive in California. He developed a breakfast sandwich using an English muffin, a freshly cooked egg, Canadian bacon, and cheese. The format gave McDonald’s a portable breakfast product that could be prepared quickly and sold during morning hours.
The sandwich was first tested in 1971 and introduced more broadly in 1972. Its success helped McDonald’s establish breakfast as an important part of the brand rather than a minor extension of the lunch menu.
The Egg McMuffin is sometimes confused with later breakfast products such as the McGriddle, which uses syrup-flavored griddle cakes and was introduced decades later. The original sandwich’s importance lies in its simple assembly and its role in shaping the fast-food breakfast category.