How McDonald's Egg McMuffin Changed The Way America Eats Breakfast

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Prior to the 1970s, breakfast in the U.S. largely took place at home. Eggs, bacon, and cereal were common parts of the morning meal and were not easy to pick up and carry out the door for a meal on the go. A McDonald's franchisee in Southern California named Herb Peterson wanted to change that. Inspired by the classic brunch staple Eggs Benedict, a split English muffin topped with Canadian bacon, poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce, Peterson created the Egg McMuffin.

What you might not know about the Egg McMuffin is that Peterson created a unique Teflon ring to cook uniform sandwich-sized eggs on the same grill as McDonald's burgers. Peterson incorporated the  Eggs Benedict's English muffin and Canadian bacon into the sandwich, but the hollandaise was swapped for a more utilitarian slice of cheese. The Egg McMuffin was first sold as an open-faced sandwich, but eventually took on the more conventional, handheld form we know today. 

This new portable breakfast was an instant hit with McDonald's customers when it was introduced nationwide in 1976. The novel breakfast sandwich also allowed McDonald's restaurants to serve food for extra hours in the morning — a profit opportunity the chain was missing out on before. As breakfast became a massive fast-food sensation, other chains quite literally scrambled to get in on the action. Still, it was McDonald's that set the standard and revolutionized the way Americans eat breakfast.

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McDonald's remains a top-seller of fast food breakfast to this day, and the Egg McMuffin is a cornerstone of that success. Although the Egg McMuffin was a game-changer, it was not the only offering when McDonald's rolled out its breakfast menu in the mid-1970s (hot cakes, sausage, and hash browns were among the items also present). The chain itself has reigned supreme in the meal category as well. In 2023, it captured over 35% of the breakfast market share, per Yahoo! Finance. That said, Egg McMuffin sales haven't been controversy-free. 

From 2015 to 2020, McDonald's offered an all-day breakfast menu nationwide to much applause. The initial introduction prompted sales to jump almost 6% in the U.S. and 5% globally during the last quarter of 2015. Stephanie Strom of The New York Times called it "the strongest gain in such sales in almost four years." One might assume that COVID-19 put an end to all-day breakfast, yet former McDonald's corporate chef Mike Haracz revealed on TikTok that it was more of a logistics issue — employees had limited kitchen space and equipment to prepare the breakfast and dinner menus at the same time. In McDonald's latest efforts to boost profits, it rolled out a meal deal promotion that offers customers a Sausage McMuffin, hash browns, and a small coffee for $4.