Yes, Mickey D’s went through a big re-design when they went to make-as-ordered from pre-prepared. The standard layout now has a double-sided assembly line that makes a “T” with the order pick-up area. Off to one side are the grills; to the other side the fry vats. The old, huge, food-holding area under the lamps is gone, along with the metal numbers that were supposed to tell the staff when to pull the sandwiches for having exceeded the acceptable shelf-life.
Someone mentioned Jack-in-the-Box. Darnit, I wish they had them here.
I worked at a fast food place too. Generally, you have to cook stuff separate, so adding another menu item like one that requires eggs or sausage patties instead of buger patties will require extra cooking space. Making those items is fine if that’s all you’re going to be doing until 10:30, but mixing that and the regular menu items are a pain. When we switched from breakfast to lunch at 10:30, that’s usually the most chaotic time of the day as we couldn’t put the breakfast stuff away until the last order is taken
Hardee’s (at least the ones around here) are now serving breakfast until 11, and still starting lunch at 10:30. I thought that this was great * (at least for customers), but this thread is making me think that, for Hardee’s, this is the worst of both worlds.
*The only thing worse than wanting a burger and fries at 10:25 is wanting breakfast food at 10:35
Interesting thing is even though breakfast is limited to those 12 hours, the lunch menu is still served 24 hours. Many’s a time I’ve gone in and gotten fries with my breakfast platter (better than hash browns IMO).
Mickey-D’s loses some of my business because they don’t serve hamburgers until X AM, but stop selling breakfast at Z AM. My daily schedule can be quite irregular, and if I had breakfast at 5AM at home, I’m in the mood for lunch by 9. No can do at Mickey-D’s, so I avoid them. Other food services are more flexible. I can breakfast, lunch or dinner at the local coffee shop anytime and they open earlier, anyway.
However, many folks (especially older types) are in the habit of eating fish on Fridays all year round, just because they’ve always done it that way.
This trend even extends to the military, also because of tradition. In the Navy, every ship and submarine I was ever on served fish on Fridays. As the saying on my sub went, “Friday; field day; fish day!” (Field day was the weekly stem-to-stern all-hands clean-up held every Friday.)
If it weren’t for fish on Fridays, how would sailors keep track of the passage of time at sea?
Here is a recent thread on this same topic. It notes that Burger King, because it broils its burgers, uses different cooking surfaces for breakfast vs. lunch/dinner and has in the past offered burgers even during breakfast time. Apparently not breakfast during the rest of the day, though.
McDonalds seriously needs to take a lesson from Jack-in-the-Box, who has EVERY menu item available 24 hours a day. When I was in Seattle earlier this year, I actually did order a hearty breakfast bowl at 9PM, and sure enough, I saw one of their chefs cooking it on the grill a minute later.
BTW - Wendys in NYC still has breakfast, and yes, it’s divine.
I was traveling a few weeks ago and entered the McDonalds drive-up at 7 minutes before the cut-off. I arrived at the ordering kiosk 2 minutes after the cut-off. They refused to serve breakfast. i couldn’t help it that their staff was so slow that I couldn’t get to the kiosk in time. Grrr.
