# Wouldn't restaurants (namely fast-food's) make a killing if they served breakfast all day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 25, 2012, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049 "2012-05-25T05:10:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/21 "2012-05-26T10:20:25Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Jack in the Box used to have croissant sandwiches for breakfast, too, and I remember liking them. I don’t know if they still have those sandwiches or not, it’s been a couple of decades back. Around here, there’s several places that are only open for breakfast and lunch, and their food is much tastier than any fast food place, and the price is just about the same. I don’t know how they do it. Hi Lynn! I happen to live practically across the street from the local JitB, and am a happy regular customer of the place. They have no croissants, as far as I can see\*. But you say a “couple decades back”, which is about how long it’s been since I did the croissants at Arbys. But I do love me some Jack. 29 years in the restaurant business, starting in fast food and working my way up, and this local Jack has been a welcome return to the quality and service I remember from all those years ago. \*to “see” would require my walking over there and inspecting the menu, but it’s 3AM on a Saturday and I’m full of beer (holy crap, even drunk I’m able to catch my typos before posting… damn I’m good) ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/22 "2012-05-26T10:27:40Z")
There’s a local burger joint that I love. I used to think that I’d lost my taste for fast food, but it turns out that most chains have just been lowering the bar, slowly but steadily. A quality burger with fresh toppings on a good bun is still a joy. Too bad that most chains don’t offer this. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/23 "2012-05-26T11:00:45Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > There’s a local burger joint that I love. I used to think that I’d lost my taste for fast food, but it turns out that most chains have just been lowering the bar, slowly but steadily. A quality burger with fresh toppings on a good bun is still a joy. Too bad that most chains don’t offer this. I _love_ a good hamburger too, and I like the way my local Jack makes 'em. I’ve been meaning to write a letter to the owner of the place, identifying myself as an near-30-year veteran of the restaurant business, congratulating him, his management, and his crew. Having started my restaurant career in fast food, back when I was 17, I’ve recognized this “lowering the bar” you mentioned. This JitB opened about 4 years ago, and I’ve not ceased to be impressed with how the place operates. ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/24 "2012-05-26T17:12:43Z")
I understand the problems with most items on off times, but I think McD’s could/should provide at least a standard Egg McMuffin at anytime, utilizing a small plug in grill for the eggs to order. I doubt there would be a rush on them, only like 1 an hour. I’d be a happy camper. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/25 "2012-05-26T17:30:11Z")
> [@Jamicat](#): > > I understand the problems with most items on off times, but I think McD’s could/should provide at least a standard Egg McMuffin at anytime, utilizing a small plug in grill for the eggs to order. > > I doubt there would be a rush on them, only like 1 an hour. I think this nails it perfectly. The average McDonalds would probably literally only sell one or two McMuffins an hour (if that) after the noon hour, and for the minuscule amount of profit they would generate, it’s clearly not worth the hassle. For me, as someone who doesn’t eat meat, an Egg McMuffin–hold the ham–is one of the _only_ things McDonalds offers that has any kind of appeal, (even though I only have one every five years or so) so I personally wouldn’t mind if they were available all day, but it makes no sense from a business perspective… ---
**Author:** ![ExcitedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ea5d25/32.png) [@ExcitedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExcitedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/26 "2012-05-27T11:23:40Z")
I read an article about 5 years ago that said McDonalds was testing 24 hours breakfast at some stores. If they haven’t rolled it out nationwide, I’d assume the test didn’t go well. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/27 "2012-05-27T12:27:42Z")
All I will say is I hate it when I’m that guy waiting in a slow-moving line at McDonald’s just before 10:30 and as soon as I reach the speaker the menu boards flip around to the lunch menu and I get greeted with “Hi, welcome to McDonald’s, we are now serving lunch!”. Noooooooo!!! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/28 "2012-05-27T12:32:24Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > All I will say is I hate it when I’m that guy waiting in a slow-moving line at McDonald’s just before 10:30 and as soon as I reach the speaker the menu boards flip around to the lunch menu and I get greeted with “Hi, welcome to McDonald’s, we are now serving lunch!”. > Noooooooo!!! Are you an unemployed defense worker? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/29 "2012-05-27T12:42:59Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Are you an unemployed defense worker? 😃 Hmmm…no? I am missing something here, clearly. Help me out! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/30 "2012-05-27T12:47:54Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Hmmm…no? I am missing something here, clearly. Help me out! > > 🙂 _[Falling Down](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106856/)_ There’s a scene (if I’m remembering right) where he gets to the head of the line only to be told they’re no longer serving breakfast. Rampage ensues. [Scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJs9p-VNORw). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/31 "2012-05-27T12:48:41Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Are you an unemployed defense worker? 😃 But I can taste the eggs on the hamburger because the grill’s been used, man. USED! Think about it! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/32 "2012-05-27T12:58:11Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > There are exceptions, though. I haven’t found anything on Whataburger’s breakfast menu I haven’t liked. They use fresh eggs, and the only reason they come out in circular patties is because they’re cooked in a steel mold. My favorite thing on their menu is an egg sandwich, which is just a buttered bun, cheese, and egg. All the ingredients are tasty and the whole thing is a fresh, non-greasy, relatively light bundle of yum Unless things have changed, McD’s uses fresh eggs. They did in the mid 90’s when I worked a stint there. The pancakes were also fresh made from batter on a special pain-in-the-ass grill we had to wheel out and plug in and then scrub clean. I burnt many a knuckle scrubbing that ting right after the breakfast shift so we could put it away. Burger King had a “burgers for breakfast” promotion years ago with their entire standard menu available. I think these days it’s just one burger option but I never eat there anyway to know for sure. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/33 "2012-05-27T12:59:51Z")
There are plenty of 24 hour diners. > [@Win\_Place\_Show](#): > > Stupid example, but why not McDonald’s? Suppose you work hours that dictate that “breakfast” for you comes at 3:00 in the afternoon - are you really inconveniencing the fry-cook that much, to throw you together a couple of Egg McMuffins, rather than a Big Mac with fries? Why do they seem to have a policy that if you show up at 11:01am on a Sunday, you are shit out of luck? It’s not a matter of “inconveniencing the fry cook that much”. McDonalds is like a food factory. More accurately it’s a complex supply chain and manufacturing and distribution network that takes inputs from cows and …other stuff..and produces a burger like object at the other end. And that hamberger basically looks and tastes exactly the same no matter where you buy it and you always get it in a few minutes or less. The fry cook is less of a cook and more of a biological factory component, assembling Mcburgers and McChickens and whatnot. For you it’s a minor inconvenience to request a special order, but if all of a sudden every third order is a special one, across all ten billion mcdonalds restaurants, the entire system breaks down. And basically the reason McDonalds doesn’t serve breakfast all day is that the executives, probably at on the advice of McKinsey management consultants backed by Gartner industry analysis, and leveraging data collected from SAP systems installed by Accenture have determined that not enough people want breakfast after 11:00am to make it profitable to run both the breakfast AND the lunch process. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/34 "2012-05-27T13:40:05Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > _[Falling Down](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106856/)_ > > There’s a scene (if I’m remembering right) where he gets to the head of the line only to be told they’re no longer serving breakfast. Rampage ensues. [Scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJs9p-VNORw). I can’t believe I missed that reference as I have seen that movie, but when I think of it all I can think about is the golf course scene. In fact, my brother and I still say “get off my golf course” to each other every so often. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/35 "2012-05-27T14:20:57Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Yes, with an emphasis on vaguely. Though I think McD’s is the only fast food restaurant I’ve encountered that has an English muffin option. Most places I’ve been to for breakfast only use buns, biscuits, or tortillas. Burger King added one to their menu a year or two ago. I think I remember they ran ads for it that admitted they were copying McDonald’s. **ETA:** yeah, here’s the ad: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF86Rb-uFNE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF86Rb-uFNE) ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/36 "2012-05-27T14:32:27Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > _[Falling Down](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106856/)_ > > There’s a scene (if I’m remembering right) where he gets to the head of the line only to be told they’re no longer serving breakfast. Rampage ensues. [Scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJs9p-VNORw). Whoa, I never realized that Shiela there is [Michelle Pfeiffer’s younger sister](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0679410/bio). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/37 "2012-05-27T14:53:20Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Burger King added one to their menu a year or two ago. I think I remember they ran ads for it that admitted they were copying McDonald’s. > > **ETA:** yeah, here’s the ad: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF86Rb-uFNE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF86Rb-uFNE) Living in Chicago suburbia, every time I saw that ad I could only think “Hey, that’s not what the McDonald’s corporate building [looks like!](http://www.flickr.com/photos/vegasrob/2900434202/)” ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/38 "2012-05-28T03:27:41Z")
Just now saw a TV commercial that said McDonalds (at least the ones around here) have now begun offering breakfast items starting at midnight and serving them up until 10:30 AM. I didn’t realize that McDonalds are now 24 hours, but I guess they must be… ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049/39 "2012-05-28T03:28:24Z")
Some are, at least with the drive-thrus. Some in certain concentrated urban areas are 24 hours in the dining room too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wouldnt-restaurants-namely-fast-foods-make-a-killing-if-they-served-breakfast-all-day/623049.md?page=1)