So, McDonald’s has decided to serve breakfast all day. There was a time where this probably wouldn’t have worked, but increasing standardization and the expansion of many cook lines makes it more plausible now. The question is, Will it matter?
The idea of cutting off breakfast was mandatory back when I worked at McDonald’s (a long time ago) because the way we handled getting customers their food fast was to fill up a “bin” that was basically a giant set of ramps under heating lamps. So, if you wanted a cheeseburger, they just came and grabbed one. It was very fast, but people wanted “fresh” food, so the process changed.
Now, they pre-cook the meat and hold it in a steam-filled little drawer and then put it on the bun when you order it, thereby making it “fresh”. If you think this isn’t fresh, go check out the line at Chipolte, or whatever. You see that chicken in the metal bowl? Yeah, it was cooked exactly as long ago as your hamburger was at McDonalds. Yes, I know. Perception matters.
Anyway, there wasn’t enough room in the bin for both breakfast and lunch stuff, so you had to have a cutoff. We used to tell the front line, “Breakfast is in the bin.” That meant that all that was left for breakfast was what we already had cooked.
The second reason for the cutoff was that no one wants eggs cooked in hamburger grease. So, you need separate grills. That’s not tough for bigger restaurants, but maybe tricky for smaller ones. I bet there is some sort of separator to divide the grills in those places.
The biggest problem with the cutoff, was picking at time. You see, not only was the cutoff the end of breakfast, but it was also the start of lunch. So, you couldn’t order a double cheeseburger during breakfast. Believe it or not, not being able to order lunch yet irritates just as many people as not still being able to order breakfast.
All Day Fries?!?
Which brings me to my question. Why can’t I get fries all day?
The one thing every McDonalds has plenty of is fryers. Fries go in the fryers, just like the hashbrown things do.
I don’t like the hash browns, but I do like fries. So, what I really want is to get an Sausage McMuffin, a Coke, and FRIES at 9:30 am. It doesn’t look like that is happening though.
In the end, this is a lot of noise over nothing. The reality is that there just aren’t that many people clamoring for the breakfast menu during the day. So, for a few weeks, people will actually care, and then, it will just be onesie-twosie during the day. I suppose if you can make it work, it can’t hurt, but I don’t really see how it will help either.