McDonalds Happy Meal Started in Guatemala
Most people in the globe are now familiar with the McDonald's Happy Meal, a children's meal that is sold by McDonald's and has even been the subject of legal disputes because, in some countries, advertising to children is prohibited. However, the Happy Meal's original purpose was to simply provide a kid-sized meal that young children could consume when a regular meal was too large. And Guatemala is where it was created.
In 1974, Yolanda Fernández de Cofio inaugurated the first McDonald's in Guatemala. She noticed that many children left their meals incomplete because they were unable to eat a Big Mac, so she thought a smaller amount with a toy may be entertaining.
She didn't get permission to prepare the lunch, but because it was well-received, the corporate office included it to the menu in 1979. There is a complication in this situation because Dick Brams claims to have created the Happy Meal in St. Louis. However, Bob Bernstein, the person he phoned to discuss it, claims that he had already created it at that point. And the former vice president of McDonald's claims that Burger Chef, a rival, was the source of the inspiration.
McDonald's referred to Dick Brams as the "father of the Happy Meal" when he passed away. But when a reporter from the Chicago Tribune called McDonald's to find out who came up with the idea, they said Yolanda Fernández de Cofio, who was by then the president of McDonald's Guatemala, had devised it once more.
