Breakfast
Egg McMuffin
The sandwich that invented fast-food breakfast.
A poached-style egg, Canadian bacon and cheese on a toasted English muffin, created in 1971.
Santa Barbara franchisee Herb Peterson wanted something that resembled eggs Benedict but could be held in one hand. He built a set of teflon rings to shape the egg to the muffin.
Breakfast turned out to be the more important invention. It gave every restaurant a second trading period using kitchen space that was otherwise idle before eleven.