Who Supplies McDonald's With Its Signature English Muffins?

For over 50 years, McDonald's customers have started their day with an Egg McMuffin, an iconic breakfast sandwich featuring a fluffy English muffin filled with morning-meal favorites: cheese, Canadian bacon, and a freshly cracked egg. The bread is the foundation of this classic combo, and it's a key reason the item ranks as the best fast food breakfast sandwich. The bread's supplier isn't a single source, but several large commercial bakeries. Bimbo Bakeries USA, Fresh Start Bakeries, Aspire Bakeries, CH Guenther & Son, and New Horizons Baking Co. all make consistent batches for the Golden Arches.

Fresh Start Bakeries, part of private-label baked goods supplier Aspire Bakeries, started supplying McDonald's with hamburger buns in the late 1960s during the fast food chain's formative years. At the request of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, baker Harold Freund built the Fresh Start baking plant to supply the fast food upstart with baked goods, eventually adding seven more plants.

Bimbo Bakeries USA, the largest commercial bakery in the States according to its website, boasts a diverse portfolio of over 30 brands, including Lender's Bagels, Sara Lee, Thomas' English muffins, and Bays English muffins. When McDonald's first introduced its Egg McMuffin in the early 1970s (before launching the item nationwide in 1975), it served the sandwich on Bays. Cooking professionals still praise this brand's product for its texture and flavor.

If you ever try making an Egg McMuffin at home, the results may not be totally spot-on, but locating a package of Bays English Muffins will certainly give you a leg up. This item isn't stocked on the bread shelves, however; because the muffins are made with milk, butter, and eggs, you'll find them in your grocery store's dairy refrigerator case. And to prep them, you might want to take some pointers from a true insider.

Mike Haracz, a former McDonald's corporate chef, has opened up about how the chain elevates its English muffins. Using Bays is crucial, he emphasized in a 2023 TikTok video, but the browning technique also helps set the classic sandwich apart. Haracz suggested browning the bread in the broiler instead of toasting it, then brushing the muffin's nooks and crannies with real butter (McDonald's gave liquid margarine the heave-ho back in 2016). Add an egg, Canadian bacon, American cheese, and you're in business.