McDonald’s revolutionized fast-food breakfast with the creation of the Egg McMuffin in 1971 and the item’s national rollout in 1975.
Herb Peterson, a McDonald’s franchisee in Southern California, created the breakfast sandwich, which was meant to be a portable version of Eggs Benedict.
“It was breakfast in a sack, and just the kind of finger-food that busy American consumers had been missing in the morning,” according to NPR.
Bob Goldin, a food industry consultant with Technomic, shared how the seemingly simple product was actually revolutionary.
“I don’t think there were a whole lot of products that fit that need at that point in time,” he told NPR. “Breakfast tended to be a sit-down occasion, eggs and bacon, cereal. And here comes this Egg McMuffin that people could eat on the go.”
And while McDonald’s expanded the Egg McMuffin line to include bacon and sausage versions, the English muffin remained the chain’s signature sandwich bread offering. That changed in 1986 when the chain added biscuit-based sandwiches.
Now, the fast-food giant has quietly borrowed from one of its biggest rivals for morning supremacy with its new biscuit sandwich.
McDonald’s adds honey butter
While biscuits aren’t new to McDonald’s, honey butter is. The chain has introduced the new Honey Brown Butter Bacon Egg & Cheese Biscuit at participating restaurants nationwide.
“This breakfast sandwich is the perfect spin on the classic bacon egg and cheese, taking those ingredients and nestling them between two freshly baked biscuits with creamy, toasty Honey Brown Butter,” according to the McDonald’s website.
Honey butter has long been a staple at Chick-Fil-A. It’s brushed onto every biscuit the chain sells, and at some locations, you can add even more as a dipping sauce. It’s not an official side item or sauce packet, so whether a store will give you extra depends on local management.
For McDonald’s, the new biscuit continues its long-term innovation policy of offering new takes on familiar items. The Honey Brown Butter Bacon Egg & Cheese Biscuit was launched July 21 and will be available for an unspecified limited time.
McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A battle over breakfast
McDonald’s does not break out its sales by daypart, and Chick-fil-A, as a privately held company, does not share financial information regularly.
As both chains have faced increased competition from convenience stores, they appear to be winning that battle, according to Ian O’Neil, director of consumer intelligence for Rubix Foods.
He said that while competition is intense, breakfast has been a bright spot for QSRs.
“We’re seeing some interesting shifts in visitation by daypart, with QSRs gaining share at breakfast from C-stores,” O’Neil told Food Institute (FI).
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Fast-food chains such as McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A do have room to grow breakfast sales.
“Despite a recent focus on the daypart, QSRs only represent roughly 23% of the market, while casual dining claims nearly 28%, suggesting its position as a growth lever in the year ahead,” FI noted, based on a report from Menu Data.
McDonald’s admits the breakfast challenge
McDonald’s CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski, during the chain’s second-quarter earnings call, talked about the challenge in selling breakfast when consumers are worried about the economy.
“You’re seeing people either skip occasions, so they’re skipping a daypart like breakfast, or they’re trading down either within our menu, or they’re trading down to eating at home,” he said.
The morning meal, he noted, has been hit harder than the rest of the chain’s offerings.
“The breakfast daypart is the most economically sensitive daypart because it’s the easiest daypart for a stressed consumer to either skip breakfast or choose to eat breakfast at home. And we, as well as the rest of the industry, are seeing that the breakfast daypart is absolutely the weakest daypart in the day,” he added.
McDonald’s faces another key headwind
In addition to cost concerns, fast-food chains also face the growing number of Americans taking a GLP-1 weight loss drug.
As one of those Americans, I can say my personal reaction to the medicine mimics what the data show. I’m skipping breakfast most days and replacing it with a protein drink.
“The pullback in restaurant visits isn’t spread evenly across times of day, according to Dana Baggett, executive director of restaurant client strategy at RRD, which works with more than 200 restaurant brands,” CNBC reported.
The morning meal has been hit hardest.
“Lunch, so far, hasn’t been impacted,” she said. “But breakfast has taken a hit, particularly from high-income GLP-1 users, who represent a bigger percentage of current patients, she said. In practice, that means fewer sugary coffee drinks and doughnuts, although options like Starbucks’ protein cold foam could encourage those consumers to return.”
A few years ago, before taking the medication, I probably would have tried McDonald’s new Honey Brown Butter Biscuit. Today, I’m the kind of breakfast customer the chain is trying to win back.
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