McDonald’s All-Day Breakfast Menu Is Huge Mistake As ‘Customers Are Abandoning Us In Droves’

McDonald’s all-day breakfast not only comes with hot coffee, but the fast food giant’s recent commitment to make the breakfast menu available all day also comes with a lot of frustration for franchise owners.

While the McDonald’s all-day breakfast menu has been extremely popular with customers since its introduction earlier this month, the store operators are definitely not “lovin’ it.” According to the results of a recent survey, many franchise owners are most likely asking, “Can I get a side of headache with that?”

Analyst Mark Kalinowski with Japanese finance firm Nomura asked 29 franchise operators who manage 226 store locations in the U.S. about how the menu change has affected their business.

Kalinowski shared some of McDonald’s franchisee’s survey responses with the New York Post.

“In small stores, the problems are vast, with people falling over each other and equipment jammed in everywhere,” was one of the replies.

While another one wrote, “customers are abandoning us in droves because we are either too slow, or sub-par quality.”

The survey results also indicated a certain amount of confusion for customers. Some breakfast menu items are available in certain areas, while not in others. For instance, some McDonald’s have the Egg McMuffin available on the all-day menu, while other stores only have biscuit sandwiches.

According to an official statement from McDonald’s, the decision to offer some items in some areas while not in others was based strictly on customer preferences.

Compelling owners to offer the McDonald’s all-day breakfast menu means hiring more employees to handle the increased demand, and many stores need long overdue equipment upgrades just to make the menu available. This, of course, translates into rising operation costs, which is bad news for store owners, who are already struggling with declining sales and profits.

“Unfortunately, with the current labor pool in our area, we are struggling to have enough people to run the shift, much less add an extra person,” another survey explained.

Why Is McDonald’s All-Day Breakfast Menu Important To The Company?

After numerous regional tests that started in March, the McDonald’s all-day breakfast options were made available nationwide on October 6, as reported earlier this month by the Inquisitr.

The commitment by McDonald’s to offer breakfast all day has been long awaited, as customers have been demanding McDonald’s extend their breakfast hours for years. Before October 6, customers could only get breakfast items like pancakes and hash browns prior to 10:30 a.m. Now, they can get breakfast anytime they want.

Despite the rumblings from franchisees, there is no indication that the McDonald’s all-day breakfast menu will be dropped anytime soon. As reported by Bloomberg, Mike Andres, McDonald’s U.S. president sent an email to all the domestic franchise owners claiming the menu introduction couldn’t have gone better and is important to the overall success strategy.

“The successful launch of All-Day Breakfast proves that when we listen to and respond to our customers and align around a great execution plan, we will grow our business and take share.”

So what’s next for the biggest food franchise in the world? With rival companies offering their own special deals and promotions to lure the budget-minded customer away from McDonald’s, Andres went on to say there are plans to increase advertising funds to franchise owners. Additionally, steps are being taken to decrease service wait-time and simplify menus at its 14,300 U.S. locations.

Through the years, McDonald’s popularity and profit hinged on its value menus and special deals. Yet, challengers to the Big Mac seller have forced the company to look for new and better ways to remain competitive.

Now, with the McDonald’s all-day breakfast menu available nationwide, customers have another reason to place an order. So, if you have a craving for breakfast at 3 in the afternoon, and you do a search for a McDonald’s nearby, you will still be able to get the all-around favorite breakfast sandwich, the classic Egg McMuffin.

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]