The Reason McDonald's Stopped Serving Breakfast All Day

Nearly half a century ago, McDonald's began to change the way people ate their first meal of the day. When the Egg McMuffin was released nationwide in 1975, breakfast on the go was born. By 1986, one out of every four breakfasts not prepared at home was sold by McDonald's, but only until 10:30 am.

The popularity of its morning meal items continued to grow, but some fans were clamoring for it to be available past mid-morning. After years of patrons lamenting that they couldn't get a sausage egg and cheese because they had arrived at 10:39 am, McDonald's finally got the message. One glorious day in 2015, Mickey D's announced that its breakfast menu would run all day, and the world rejoiced.

For a time, that is. In 2020, all-day breakfast was discontinued like McDonald's snack wraps. A spokesperson from McDonald's attempted to explain the reason on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying, "We initially removed All Day Breakfast from the menu to simplify operations in our kitchens, which we saw provided better speed of service and order accuracy for our customers." Speed of service is a paramount issue in the fast-food industry. If Egg McMuffins were preventing folks from getting a Big Mac for lunch in a timely manner, it makes sense that the burger chain eliminated time-consuming menu items from being available all day.

With competitors like Dunkin' and Starbucks offering morning meals throughout the entire day, it made sense for McDonald's to get in on that action. Along with increasing foot traffic, serving breakfast all day catered to the crowd of McGriddle enthusiasts who couldn't get in the door by 10:30 am. However, things didn't go as planned.

In 2018, the fast-food giant was already having trouble serving two masters. Service slowed, and sales dipped, creating an unforeseen paradox of unhappy customers and decreased revenue. Pre-lunch hours accounted for about 25% of its sales at the time, but morning meals served alongside McDonald's iconic chicken nuggets were clogging up the works.

Some of McDonald's meals are held hot to order in warming boxes called a universal holding cabinets or UHC. In an updated explanation for why it no longer serves hash browns in the afternoon, the McDonald's website states, "The reason we don't serve breakfast all day is because 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." All-day breakfast had to take a backseat to the needs of lunch and dinner patrons looking to get a quick meal. However, if you are incredibly fortunate, you may still be able to grab an Egg McMuffin in the afternoon.

There've been rumors in the past that McDonald's will one day revive breakfast items all-day, but no official word from the fast-food chain confirms this. However, if you are one of the many folks who want it back, you might be in luck — depending on your location. Some franchises continue to offer McGriddles at 3:00 pm and beyond.

The McDonald's website states, "Of course, it's up to the franchisee manager if they want to offer a breakfast option throughout the day." The franchisee determines whether your local Mickey D's serves morning meals while the sun is high in the sky. The lucky individuals in Columbus, Ohio, apparently have one such franchise in their neck of the woods.

On the subreddit r/Columbus, someone posted a question about whether or not their local McDonald's was serving all-day breakfast. One commenter confirmed that you can indeed get morning items late in Columbus, saying, "I can confirm they are open 24/7/365 and they do serve all day breakfast!" It may be worth calling your local McDonald's to see if they offer breakfast throughout the day. Otherwise, you'll have to make sure you are out the door after 4:00 or 5:00 am and before 10:30 or 11:00 am (depending on location) to get your hands on the most important meal of the day from McDonald's.