After years of speculation, McDonald’s is finally ditching its breakfast hours and rolling out all-day breakfast. The morning meal will be available throughout the day at all U.S. locations beginning October 6.
McDonald’s franchisees approved all-day breakfast last week. The all-day breakfast menu will include many McDonald’s standards, including McMuffin Sandwiches, Hotcakes, the Breakfast Burrito, Fruit ‘N Yogurt Parfait, Fruit & Maple Oatmeal, and Hash Browns. It will also include biscuits in those markets that already serve them.
A move to serving breakfast all day has been rumored at McDonald’s for years. The decision to finally pull the trigger comes as McDonald’s restructures its business in light of three years of stagnant sales.
“I will not shy away from the urgent need to reset this business,” CEO Steve Easterbrook said in an online video in May announcing several new corporate initiatives.
According to the National Restaurant Association’s (NRA) 2015 Restaurant Industry Forecast, seven out of 10 consumers say they want restaurants to serve breakfast throughout the day. Millennials are more interested in breakfast for dinner than any other age group before them.
“Breakfast hasn’t traditionally been the most common dining-out daypart, but with the increasingly busy lifestyles we lead today, consumer interest is definitely stemming from the blurring of normal meal periods,” Annika Stensson, the NRA’s director of research communications, told QSR in February. “Who doesn’t like some good pancakes, no matter what time of day it is?”
McDonald’s joins other quick-serve brands, including Jack in the Box, Sonic, and Chronic Tacos, in serving breakfast throughout the day.
By Sam Oches
