Once upon a time, you could order a McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin, a serving of pancakes, and a couple of perfectly cooked crispy hash browns at 2 p.m. on any random Thursday — and, boy, was it good. However, despite its popularity, McDonald’s discontinued the all-day breakfast service back in 2020. So, why was it axed? It all has to do with the enormous strain that the restaurant experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic when its stock prices fell by 17%, as reported by CNBC.
McDonald’s rolled out its all-day breakfast service in October 2015 and — depending on which state you lived in — offered McMuffins, breakfast burritos, biscuits, hash browns, and more from opening time to closing. Yet, just five years later, at the height of the pandemic, Bill Garrett, the Senior Vice President of McDonald’s U.S. operations, delivered the bad news. “To simplify operations in our kitchens and for our crew, and ensure the best possible experience for our customers, we are working with our franchisees and local restaurants to focus on serving our most popular choices and will begin temporarily removing some items from the menu over the next few weeks,” Garrett revealed in an official statement via the news outlet.
The all-day breakfast was nixed from that point on, and, as of yet, it has not made a comeback. However, according to one TikTok user, former McDonald’s corporate chef Mike Haracz, “McDonald’s wanted to get rid of all-day breakfast well before the pandemic happened.” If this is true, the pandemic provided the perfect cover for the chain to scale back on its previous offerings.
McDonald’s breakfast items take up too much space
Additionally, Haracz explains that “the issue with all-day breakfast is that it takes up the real estate in the kitchen that could be used for lunch or dinner service. There’s the UHC [Universal Holding Cabinet], there is the fryer, there is the toaster, the amount of buns that need to be available.” Evidently, the massive undertaking that was “all-day breakfast” was simply too “operationally complex” for most franchises to manage.
The UHC was specifically developed for McDonald’s and is made up of shelves and compartments that can be set to different temperatures depending on which product is being kept warm inside. Haracz’s intel on this indispensable piece of equipment aligns with what’s stated on the McDonald’s website, which notes that the “UHC is almost at full capacity throughout the day. This means there’s nowhere to store breakfast products as well as main menu items.”
Given this explanation, it doesn’t seem like McDonald’s all-day breakfast will return any time soon, even though the pandemic is over and all restaurants are back to functioning normally. At least fans of the golden hash browns can still get their fix during the chain’s limited breakfast hours. Local breakfast menus and hours may vary by location, but in most cases breakfast is served at McDonald’s from opening until around 10:30 a.m. or 11 a.m. local time. Alternatively, you could always order from the daytime menu instead. Check out our ultimate ranking of McDonald’s food items to help you make your selection.
