McDonald's Empowers Franchisees with the Option to Limit Breakfast Selections

After offering all-day breakfast selections across the U.S. for nearly four years, McDonald’s is passing the torch to its franchise partners. The fast-food giant stated that it’s giving power to its franchisees by giving them the option to choose which breakfast foods to serve all day.

Nation’s Restaurant News said, “While all-day breakfast has not been scrapped completely, the shift to local control ends one of the biggest – and most divisive – changes the company has ever made to its national McDonald’s menu.”

When the brand struggled to maintain relevance in 2015, CEO Steve Easterbrook made the decision to include breakfast offerings all day. It was a controversial move, said Nation’s Restaurant News. Many partners protested against the consumer demand for all-day breakfast options due to an increased cost in inventory. Now that operators can choose to offer breakfast items all day, some locations will save money and speed up service.

Giving franchisees the option to shrink the all-day menu is a great idea, according to Tim Powell, a senior restaurant analyst. Powell told Nation’s Restaurant News that the change not only speeds up service and saves on food costs and waste, but it also allows each restaurant to fit the needs of its consumers based on what the competition offers.

Although some guests will be disappointed to find they can no longer order an Egg McMuffin at midnight, McDonald’s and its franchisees see this initiative as a means to continue simplifying and elevating its menu selections.

Consumers may begin seeing menu changes as early as July.

Read the full Nation’s Restaurant News article here.