Crain’s Business Chicago: McDonald’s to Phase Out All-Day Breakfast

As the foodservice industry continues to endure the worst of the economic fallout from the Coronavirus crisis, restaurants are experimenting with a range of new operations to maintain their customer bases and scale back spending. This week, the world’s largest restaurant operator, McDonald’s, announced its own significant customer-facing adjustment: suspending all-day breakfast.

According to an article in Crain’s Chicago Business, the iconic quick-service franchise is temporarily phasing out all-day breakfast at all of its restaurants in an attempt to streamline kitchen operations and increase drive-thru efficiency.

McDonald’s introduced all-day breakfast just five years ago, but according to Crain’s, the popular offering has not provided the boon for restaurants the franchise hoped for.

> Ex-CEO Steve Easterbrook introduced all-day breakfast in 2015 to jump-start sales. The move worked at first, but the benefits of that move have plateaued. Still, McDonald's sees breakfast as a key growth area and launched two new breakfast chicken offerings this year.

McDonald’s has not shut down U.S. restaurants in response to the Coronavirus crisis, even in cities where dine-in service is prohibited, but the franchise has temporarily shuttered all of its stores in France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, among other international markets.