Coverage: McMuffins all day, every day

After years of constant begging, McDonald’s customers finally had their requests granted with the company announcing it would serve all-day breakfast starting Oct. 6.

BuzzFeed’s Venessa Wong summed up the day’s news:

America’s breakfast prayers have been answered. On Oct. 6, McDonald’s will roll out all-day breakfast nationwide.

The chain’s franchisees approved the change last week, and the franchisee leadership council voted it in today. The chain has been testing all day breakfast in select markets this year.

The all-day breakfast menu will be a simplified version of the chain’s morning offerings that will include either Egg McMuffins or biscuit sandwiches — depending on the region — and sausage burritos and hot cakes, reported the Wall Street Journal.

McDonald’s has been struggling against weak sales in the U.S. The addition of breakfast items to the afternoon menu could help boost sales by 2.5% a year, reported Bloomberg, citing a corporate presentation. Breakfast currently makes up about a quarter of the company’s U.S. sales.

McDonald’s has held off on offering breakfast all day despite repeated requests from consumers, because it would complicate kitchen operations. It will also require an investment in equipment by restaurant owners ranging from $500 to $5,000 per restaurant, depending on what they already have, the Journal reported.

The demand is clear, however. A survey by market researcher Instantly showed that among consumers who eat fast food for breakfast, 72% believe breakfast food should be offered all day.

The people have spoken.

Julie Jargon of The Wall Street Journal laid out the practical side of the decision:

The move could help McDonald’s franchisees who have struggled with slowing sales, though it also creates new costs and complexities. To address their concerns, McDonald’s began testing all-day breakfast about six months ago in San Diego and later in Nashville and Mississippi, and in June, convened a seven-member task force of franchisees to study a nationwide rollout.

“When the task force started, we wondered if we could really do this,” said LeAnn Richards, a franchisee with eight McDonald’s in Arizona who headed the group.

McDonald’s restaurants are built to produce lunch and dinner items using the same equipment that makes breakfast but not at the same time, so operators needed to add or change equipment and processes.

Operators needed separate grills to ensure that raw eggs don’t come into contact with burgers. The task force identified a small model for eggs that sits on rolling carts, which carry utensils used just for eggs and can be moved for the best fit in each McDonald’s kitchen.

Operators also needed new toasters, because existing units can only be adjusted to warm either hamburger buns or muffins, which toast at different temperatures. Now, most restaurants are being outfitted with two toasters connected together that can toast both buns and muffins at the same time.

Altogether, the investment can range from $500 to $5,000 per restaurant, depending on what equipment franchisees already have, a McDonald’s spokeswoman said. Many franchisees have already installed the new equipment.

Aamer Madhani of USA TODAY described what prompted the decision from the fast food powerhouse:

McDonald’s has been testing all-day breakfast in select markets for several months after hearing for years from customers that they wanted to be able to get an Egg McMuffin no matter what time of day. Over the last year, the company had counted 120,000 requests on Twitter calling for them to sell breakfast items all day.

“It’s been the number one requested thing from our customers for years,” McDonald’s President Mike Andres told USA TODAY. “The people have spoken and we are responding.”

The company, however, had long resisted expanding the availability of breakfast past 10:30 a.m. out of concern that restaurant operators just don’t have enough grill space to do breakfast and lunch items simultaneously.

But in July, McDonald’s made its intentions clear, when they told franchisees to prepare for a potential, but not set-in-stone, nationwide roll-out of the all-day breakfast menu this fall.

Many, but not all breakfast items, will be available on the all-day menu. But the most popular staples, such as the Egg McMuffin, the Sausage McMuffin and hash browns will be made available throughout store hours. (In Southern markets, where customers order biscuit sandwiches, those will be on the menu.)

To make room for all-day breakfast, Andres said some items will have to be pared from the menu to give space-strapped restaurant operators the ability to do breakfast and lunch simultaneously. In Nashville, which has been testing all-day breakfast, operators decided to ditch McWraps.

Andres said the decision on what items to delete from the menu will be made market by market.