The History Of McDonald's Egg McMuffin, Straight From The Inventor's Son - Exclusive

The McDonald's breakfast menu is something that we all take for granted. When you're traveling somewhere new or scrambling to get something in your stomach before the long work day ahead, McDonald's always serves as a convenient and relatively inexpensive option. One of its most iconic offerings on its breakfast menu is the simple Egg McMuffin. Before the newfangled McMuffin variations, including ones made with bacon and sausage, there was the OG Egg McMuffin. And before that, there was Herb Peterson. 

Herb Peterson is the individual credited with coming up with the Egg McMuffin in his Santa Barbara McDonald's in the '70s. The breakfast sandwich he created has grown to an international offering and sparked the development of other delicious breakfast favorites. While Peterson's creation is very well-known across the world, his story is something kept a little closer to the chest. We had an opportunity to speak to Herb's son, David Peterson — author of "The Good Egg" — about how his father's invention 50 years ago changed not only his dad's life, and by extension, his own, but also transformed McDonald's breakfast menu as we know it. 

Herb Peterson had a long legacy at McDonald's — and his story started long before anything hit the griddle. David Peterson recounts how his dad got his start working in the McDonald's sphere on the company's account at D'Arcy Advertising in Chicago. At that time, McDonald's was only serving up food at a couple hundred locations (for reference, today the company has nearly 14,000 locations in the U.S. alone).

Peterson didn't just do advertising; he was also involved in the development of one of the most important motifs of McDonald's — Ronald McDonald himself. His son, David, was actually a star of one of the earliest Ronald McDonald ads when he was only nine years old. "So, my dad's involvement in various aspects of the business really laid the groundwork for his later creation of the Egg McMuffin," David Peterson says.

Eventually, the Peterson family made the cross-country move to Santa Barbara, California to open McDonald's No. 1,103. David explains that this happened when he was 10 years old, and Ray Kroc, McDonald's founder, approached his dad about a unique opportunity. "... Ray Kroc said to my dad, 'Herb, I have a ranch in Santa Barbara, and your wife's name is Barbara. Why don't you come to Santa Barbara and open a McDonald's?'" And, as they say, the rest was history.

The expression "necessity is the mother of invention" serves true for Herb Peterson's and the Egg McMuffin's story. David Peterson recounts how his dad first developed the idea for the McMuffin after he had noticed that the franchise was missing a tremendous business opportunity by opening at 11 a.m. Sure they could capture the lunch and dinner crowd with burgers and fries, but what about the most important meal of the day? 

Herb Peterson also got some unexpected inspiration from a well-known culinary linchpin. "[My dad] was a great friend of Julia Child, and his favorite breakfast item was eggs Benedict. He thought, 'How can I come up with a reasonably priced eggs Benedict?'" Once he had the inspiration, it was time to get to the nitty gritty. "My dad was really focused on perfecting the recipe," David Peterson says. "He initially tried brushing hollandaise sauce on the sandwich, but the American cheese was a no-brainer."

Not only did the "inexpensive eggs Benedict" have to taste good, but it also had to be convenient — which would fit in line with the rest of McDonald's menu. That's where Herb Peterson had to combine his entrepreneurial spirit with his creative side. 

Herb had to find a way to prevent the eggs from splattering all over the griddle, and by proxy, all over the customer when they went to eat it. David recounts how his father contacted a blacksmith, who specialized in horseshoes, to make a Teflon-coated ring for cooking the eggs in. "Sometimes, the biggest ideas start with the simplest ideas. But that's the magic right there," said David Peterson. 

According to David's recount, Herb showed off his egg ring invention to Ray Kroc. "My dad was so clever, dressed in his chef's hat and jacket, ready with his little egg ring," he says. "That was a huge day."

McDonald's didn't serve breakfast prior to the development of the Egg McMuffin, so Herb Peterson had to make up for lost time. Not only did he have to make a ring to cook the eggs in, but he also had to source the ingredients to make his iconic sandwich. 

"When we first moved to California, English muffins and Canadian bacon weren't a thing here," David Peterson says. His father took to importing pieces of Canadian bacon from Canada, thanks to making a connection to Oscar Meyer himself. An East Coast bakery, Bays English Muffins, was responsible for sending over the bread for the sandwiches. 

Once he had the Canadian bacon, the perfectly circular eggs, English muffins, and the cheese, Herb had a sandwich on his hands. Now, it was time to test and see if he had a breakfast food that could not only win over the hearts and bellies of customers, but also McDonald's corporate. 

It's easy to look back and acknowledge that Herb Peterson had a dynamite idea: a nutritious, portable breakfast dish to capture the early risers and folks on their way to work. However, David Peterson shares that his dad knew that he had something good right from the start. According to him, Herb was a firm believer in the sandwich's potential "from the first bite." The question, always, was how it would resonate with customers. 

The answer? Quite well. David shares that the research and development of the sandwich took about six months. Then, it started appearing on the menu at the Peterson's franchise. David notes that the family did some advertising to help get the concept off the ground — through things like buy-one-get-one offers — but for the most part, its success was self-propelled.

"Once a customer tasted one, it was an instant win," David Peterson says. One could argue that the McDonald's breakfast sandwich caught on so fast because there wasn't anything else like it at the time. While other chains were focused on lunch and dinner menus, Herb Peterson was honing a newfangled, fast food breakfast product — and a tasty one at that.

Once Herb Peterson had nailed the concept and recipe of the Egg McMuffin, it was time to pitch his ideas to the big wigs. After doing some testing with the local crowd, he needed to pitch it to the board of directors — and Ray Kroc himself. 

It turns out that customers weren't the only ones that loved the idea and flavor of the McMuffin. Kroc reportedly praised the innovative sandwich. The first day that Kroc tried the McMuffin, on a visit to the Santa Barbara franchise in 1971, David says Kroc ate four Egg McMuffins in a single day. 

After getting the McDonald's mastermind on board, Herb Peterson traveled to meet with the board and even made each of them a sandwich. Patty Turner, the wife of Fred Turner, former McDonald's CEO, was the one to coin the "Egg McMuffin" name over dinner that night. 

Although the Egg McMuffin was a success for Herb Peterson, his family, and McDonald's corporate, there was some inertia in getting the sandwich up and running — and it came in the form of something that almost all night owls can relate to: not wanting to get up early. 

Franchisees had gotten used to opening their doors at 11 a.m. But with a breakfast menu, they would have to open their doors at around 7 a.m. — a comparatively early start for a chain that had gotten used to just serving lunch and dinner. But, considering the fact that breakfast now comprises about 35 percent of McDonald's total business, it's fair to say that there was a little financial incentive for franchises to open their doors early and start serving breakfast.

The Egg McMuffin paved the way for a long legacy of McDonald's breakfast items. Without the layers of soft English muffin, cheese, and egg patties, we wouldn't have an array of menu favorites, including the sausage McMuffin, McGriddles, and bagel sandwiches that adorn its menu today. Once McDonald's saw the potential revenue from these items, given from the success of the Egg McMuffin, it began developing, testing, and releasing new items to its breakfast-hungry fans.

McDonald's officially released its breakfast menu in 1977. It included the Egg McMuffin, hotcakes, Danishes, sausage, scrambled eggs, and its ever-popular hash browns. Breakfast sandwiches came more in the years following. The McGriddle, another fan-favorite, didn't make an appearance on the McDonald's menu until 2003. 

Tom Ryan, is the inventor of the McGriddle. As the story goes, Ryan needed to develop a food item that was convenient, tasty, and could be eaten on the go (sound familiar?). It also had to help expand and revitalize McDonald's breakfast empire. Nowadays, the McGriddle rivals the McMuffin as one of McDonald's most popular and beloved breakfast menu items, and serves as an exciting story for considering any future breakfast options that are in the pipeline. 

Not all of McDonald's menu items were created by food scientists or corporate; Herb Peterson is a testament to that. But so is franchisee Nelly Quijano, who created the sausage burrito. Quijano is a Cuban immigrant who runs McDonald's franchises in the Houston area. Her burrito was launched on the McDonald's menu many years after the Egg McMuffin made its debut, in 1989, but the sentiment and ingenuity of both franchise owners is clear. You may also be surprised to know that the famous McDonald's Big Mac was too created by a franchise owner – Jim Delligatti of Uniontown, Pennsylvania.  

When we asked David Peterson about his advice for franchise owners looking to explore, innovate, and create new menu items, what he had some specific advice. "Keep thinking big," Peterson tells us. "Ray Kroc's saying was 'None of us is as good as all of us.'" 

What Kroc meant, simply, is that no individual is better than the collective power of a group. As such, David Peterson's advice is to always continue striving. "If you have an idea, whether it's an operational idea or a food product idea or a new way of doing something idea, keep forging," he says.

Although the nationwide popularity of the Egg McMuffin may suggest otherwise, this sandwich's success was really the result of a passionate man who not only innovated the sandwich itself but was also a pro at marketing it to the community. David Peterson recounts how his father, who was affectionately known as Mr. McMuffin, carried around "Be Our Guest" cards and coupons for members of his community. "Every car wash, valet parker, and haircut he got, he would hand out a free Egg McMuffin," David Peterson says. Not only did this move help Herb Peterson build rapport in the community  — after all, who doesn't like free McDonald's? — but it also helped more people see the potential of his invention. 

And, the legacy of both Peterson and his invention lives on. David shares that his family has brass plaques in their restaurants declaring it as the place the Egg McMuffin was created. "People recognize us as the home of the Egg McMuffin, much like how LA is known for the Dodgers," says David. "This legacy is a gift."

It's easy to see how Herb Peterson's name dominates the Egg McMuffin narrative, but at its core, it was a family affair all along. David Peterson shares that his father's invention, as well as its legacy, has shaped not only his own personal life, but also his career. David originally wanted to be an architect, but his dad's association with the company gave him a new perspective and pathway to carry on his legacy. Now, David himself is a franchise owner and still reveres the sandwich to this day. The two eventually started working together, because, as David explains, "... I knew I had gifts he didn't have, and together we became a really good team."

Naturally, we also had to ask David about his favorite way to spruce up the Egg McMuffin. given that it's been over 50 years since the original one debuted. He gave us a not-so surprising answer. "I love it just the way it is, I think it's perfection," he says.