Initial analysis of McDonald’s two-month-old all-day breakfast offering in the USA indicates that the program has been successful in attracting new customers and luring back lapsed clientele as well as increasing lunch visits, according to the Chicago-based NPD Group. The market research company’s study, which is based on Checkout Tracking receipt data, also found that there was a sizeable lift in breakfast food orders throughout the day.
Looking at the purchase behavior of McDonald’s customers who bought breakfast foods after10:30 AM (the previous cutoff time for breakfast orders), NPD found that a third of these buyers had not purchased from McDonald’s at all prior to the all-day breakfast launch on October 6. The study also found that McDonald’s customers opted for breakfast foods beyond traditional breakfast hours, and were most interested in ordering such fare at lunch – the chain’s busiest time of day. Among consumers purchasing breakfast foods at McDonald’s during lunch hours, 61 percent of their receipts also included non-breakfast items, which contributed to a bump in average check size.
Orders of breakfast foods throughout the day increased from 39 percent pre-launch to 47 percent post-launch, according to the NPD Checkout Tracking study, which analyzed a database containing receipts from more than 27,000 McDonald’s static buyers who visited before and after the all-day breakfast program debuted.
“This preliminary review of McDonald’s all-day breakfast offer suggests consumers are receptive to ordering McDonald’s breakfast foods beyond traditional breakfast hours,” said Bonnie Riggs, an NPD restaurant industry analyst and author of the study. “It’s early and there are other questions to answer as time goes on, but for now it is working.”
While the quick service restaurant chain’s breakfast menu varies by location, must outlets in the United States serve up Hotcakes, Egg McMuffins, Sausage Biscuits, McGriddles, Sausage Burritos and Hash Browns day and night.
