Happy Throwback Thursday! Today’s throwback year is 1979, the year Happy Meals were introduced at McDonalds! The precursor to the Happy Meal was the “Ronald Menu”, which was offered at McDonalds in Guatemala. The Ronald Menu offered a hamburger, small fries, and a sundae to help mothers feed their children more effectively. The concept was brought to McDonald’s corporate management in Chicago, who gave development to advertising executive Bob Bernstein. Bernstein came up with the idea for the Happy Meal, which originally came with a burger, fries, cookies, a soda, and a Cracker Jack surprise toy. They tested Happy Meals in the Kansas City, Phoenix, and Denver markets in 1977, and the nationwide roll out happened in 1979.
Today, McDonalds is one of the largest toy distributors in the world, thanks to Happy Meal sales. Around one billion Happy Meals are sold every year in over 100 countries – that’s about 2.7 million every day! Learn more in the audio below.