Who created the McDonald’s Egg McMuffin, first sold in 1972?

Herb Peterson created the McDonald’s Egg McMuffin, first sold in 1972.

Peterson was a McDonald’s franchisee and had previously worked in advertising. He developed a breakfast sandwich using an English muffin, a poached egg, Canadian bacon, and cheese. The product gave McDonald’s a branded breakfast item that could be served in a portable format.

The Egg McMuffin was first introduced at Peterson’s Santa Barbara, California, restaurants. Its success helped McDonald’s expand breakfast service beyond a limited regional experiment and made the sandwich a central part of the company’s menu identity.

The product is sometimes confused with the later McDonald’s breakfast menu as a whole. Peterson created the signature Egg McMuffin, but corporate expansion turned it into a nationwide and eventually international brand. Its name also established the “Mc” naming pattern used by several later menu products.