McDonald's all-day breakfast starts today: Here's what to expect
鈥淭his is an opportunity for us to say, 鈥榃e hear you. We鈥檙e listening.鈥� And we鈥檙e responding,鈥� Wendell Sconiers, VP-Operations for McDonald鈥檚 USA says of today鈥檚 launch of all-day breakfast.
In fact, McDonald鈥檚 says it has responded to聽every聽person who ever tweeted 鈥淲hy can鈥檛 we have breakfast all day?鈥� or its variations since about 2007. That was tens of thousands of people, according to a spokesperson, but the company has tried to tweet each of them a 鈥淲e heard you鈥� reply with news of the all-day debut.
Sitting in a McDonald鈥檚 restaurant in Downers Grove, Ill., one of the few offering both breakfast all-day and the Create Your Taste customization platform, Sconiers says several factors combined to make this the time for McDonald鈥檚 to take on an all-day breakfast menu. The consumer demand for it has been there for a long time, as has McDonald鈥檚 desire to meet that demand, he says. But it has taken three years of testing to answer the 鈥淪o how do we do it?鈥� questions.
罢丑别听鈥� test in 2012 and subsequent聽operational tests in 2013 gave the chain insights into how breakfast and lunch/dinner could share a kitchen鈥nd also where they couldn鈥檛. The final piece, says Sconiers, was 鈥渁n energetic group of San Diego franchisees who stepped up鈥� and said they wanted to see if breakfast could be served all day. The San Diego market tests鈥搖sing the same limited breakfast menu from Breakfast After Midnight鈥攂egan in聽.
The challenge wasn鈥檛 just that McDonald鈥檚 has 14,000 company and franchised stores, says Sconiers. It鈥檚 that those stores have greatly varying kitchen layouts and equipment packages based on volume, unit age and location. New equipment was developed to answer some of the problems, including 鈥渉ow burgers and eggs can live the same house鈥� and share flat-top grill space, Sconiers says. For many locations, the answer is a new dedicated egg cooker that can make a dozen at a time for muffin sandwiches. Others have newly reconfigured egg rings that take less grill space and don鈥檛 crowd burgers. Adding a standalone muffin toaster eliminates a backup at the bun/muffin toaster (especially with McDonald鈥檚 now toasting burger buns a few seconds longer). Some units have gotten larger grills and some have installed new digital menu boards to better handle and market inclusion of breakfast foods all day.
A spokesperson says franchisees鈥� breakfast investment varies from as little as $500 to as much as $5,000 depending on what鈥檚 needed to make it work. The Create Your Taste platform, however, can cost as much as $125,000 per store, according to some聽. That includes a new, dedicated prep area with its own bun toasting/buttering equipment and sous-vide-like warm-water baths in which sealed pouches of products such as chicken and mushrooms can be kept warm for service. Dedicated prep and tableside delivery staff also can increase costs.
The San Diego all-day-breakfast tests鈥攕ubsequently expanded to Greenville and Greenwood, Miss., and then Nashville鈥攑rovided insights about not just equipment but also staffing needs and consumer buying behavior. As a result, in preparation for today鈥檚 all-day launch, each store knows what its additional staffing needs for peak periods will be and how many breakfast-food buyers it can expect beyond the traditional breakfast hours, Sconiers says. He declined to explain the algorithms behind those calculations but says the company is confident it鈥檚 ready for the change.
Pre-launch ad support has included TV spots from Chicago agency Leo Burnett, which does McDonald鈥檚 kids advertising, Ad Age聽. TV spots from another of its roster agencies, DDB, begin a three-week push today, although all-day breakfast will get year-round marketing support. 鈥淥nce you changed how you ate breakfast. It鈥檚 time to start changing when,鈥� says one DDB commercial. Multicultural agencies Alma, Burrell and IW also have created ethnically targeted spots.
For crew members, the all-day model eliminates that dreaded transition time from 10:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. when breakfast eaters have to be told they just missed their chance. 鈥淣o one likes to say 鈥楴o.鈥欌�� says Sconiers. As of today, McDonald鈥檚 crew no longer need to.
