Which Luxembourg-born chef created McDonald's Chicken McNuggets recipe?

Luxembourg-born chef René Arend created McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets recipe.

Arend became McDonald’s first executive chef and developed the McNuggets recipe in 1979. His work helped turn chicken into a major new category for a chain best known at the time for hamburgers and fries.

The product’s launch was not immediate everywhere. McDonald’s franchisees quickly wanted to sell the nuggets, but the company initially lacked enough chicken-processing capacity to supply the entire system. Broader availability followed after those production problems were addressed, with a nationwide United States rollout in 1983.

People sometimes confuse Arend with the person who conceived the nugget’s broader commercial form. Herb Lotman of Keystone Foods is credited with conceiving the chicken nugget concept in the late 1970s, while Arend created the McNuggets recipe used by McDonald’s.