USA: McDonald's to test expanded all-day breakfast with McGriddle

The world's biggest burger chain plans to start offering an expanded all-day breakfast menu that includes McGriddle sandwiches in 72 restaurants in Tulsa, Oklahoma starting Feb. 1, 2016. 

The test comes after customers complained about the absence of the sandwich when McDonald's launched a limited all-day breakfast menu in October.

McDonald's expects the test to last for two to three months before deciding how to proceed.

The test come as McDonald's rides high from its biggest quarterly U.S. sales jump in nearly four years. The Oak Brook, Illinois company said this week that sales rose 5.7 percent in the last three months of year, boosted by all-day breakfast menu and unseasonably warm weather.

Now, McDonald's restaurants in Tulsa will try adding McGriddle sandwiches, as well as breakfast sandwiches made with biscuits. Currently, restaurants offer breakfast sandwiches made with either biscuits or English muffins, depending on regional preferences. About 80 percent offer "McMuffin" sandwiches, with some areas in the south offering biscuits.

The addition of McGriddles and biscuits in the afternoon could prove to be too much of a strain, especially at a time when McDonald's has said it's trying to simplify operations to improve order accuracy and speed.

The syrupy pancake buns for McGriddles and biscuits would need to be warmed up in ovens, which are also used to heat up apple pies, cookies and mozzarella sticks during lunch hours, said LeAnn Richards, a McDonald's franchisee who led a task force on all-day breakfast. McGriddles and biscuit sandwiches are also made with a frozen egg patty, instead of the cracked egg used in McMuffins.
That means franchisees — who already had to buy new equipment to offer all-day breakfast — would need to further juggle grill and oven space for an expanded menu.

McDonald's says franchisees in Kansas City also started offering a Sausage McGriddle last month in response to demand. But those restaurants aren't offering the sandwich with eggs, or biscuit sandwiches.

Despite McDonald's recent sales jump, it's still not clear exactly how all-day breakfast is benefiting the chain and whether the effects will last. The company did not say how much of the increase was from an uptick in customer visits, versus factors likes price hikes or people adding extras onto their orders.

Either way, McDonald's turnaround push is far from over. The company's U.S. customer visits fell 3 percent last year, following a 4.1 percent drop in 2014.

Starbucks : the battle for breakfast

Starbucks gets 26% of its revenue from products other than beverages. And even in the beverage department, a substantial chunk of sales comes from drinks other than coffee. The chain dropped the word “coffee” from its logo in 2011, and its acquisitions since that year include tea maker Teavana, juice company Evolution Fresh and the La Boulange Cafe & Bakery brand. And that’s on top of forays over the years into everything from music to soda.

In many ways, Starbucks is like a McDonald’s without a Burger King—that is, the chain doesn’t have an archrival when it comes to high-end java. But that could be changing. In recent years, a “third wave” of artisan-minded coffee houses has opened up, emphasizing everything from single-origin beans (“harvested like wine grapes,” according to one report) to refined roasting techniques. Players in this market include Intelligentsia Coffee (based in Chicago), Stumptown Coffee Roasters (Portland, Ore.) and Blue Bottle Coffee (Oakland, Calif.).

To some extent, Starbucks is joining this bandwagon in that it plans to open at least 100 “reserve” stores, emphasizing even higher-end java, over the next five years. The chain is also testing an “express” store concept, which seems to be tied to the competitive threat from fast-food chains—like McDonald’s—that have moved increasingly into coffee.

For now, Starbucks may have one advantage over its third-wave competitors: it generally charges less—in some cases, easily 25% less—for a cup of drip coffee. (In New York, a 12-ounce “tall” Starbucks serving runs around $2.) And that’s despite the fact that Starbucks has itself been faulted for high prices, leading some critics to dub the chain “Fourbucks.”

It’s like a Big Mac, with more caffeine.

Many Frappuccinos have more than 400 calories in a 20-ounce “venti” serving; the Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino even hits the 500-calorie mark. Add a slice of Iced Lemon Pound Cake (470 calories) and a coffee-break drink and snack could be close to 1,000 calories.

To put that in perspective: A Big Mac and large Coca-Cola at McDonald’s clock in at 810 calories. (Keep in mind the Agriculture Department says an adult between the ages of 31 and 50 should typically need between 1,800 and 2,200 calories a day.

In 2012, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group focusing on nutrition, examined caffeine levels in medium-size cups of coffee from various chains and found that Starbucks—specifically, a grande (16-ounce) serving of the company’s popular Pike Place roast—had the most, with 330 milligrams per cup. By contrast, java from Dunkin’ Donuts had 178 milligrams of caffeine (unless, of course, you added a “turbo shot”) and McDonald’s 133 milligrams.