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McDonald’s All-Day Breakfast Starts Today

By Tara Dodrill
Published on: 06:21 PST, Oct 6, 2015

McDonald’s is now serving all-day breakfast. Franchises of the fast food giant all across the country will now be offering a multitude of popular breakfast items at all hours.

Before the first-ever McDonald’s all-day breakfast promotion began, customers would have to get to the restaurant prior to 10:30 a.m. to get an order of pancakes or an egg Mcmuffin. Although morning meal fans can now get breakfast any time they want, not all breakfast items will be available past the traditional early hours, MSN reports. There are more than 14,300 McDonald’s restaurants across the United States.

McDonald’s breakfast menu, ranked: http://t.co/S635T91C0G pic.twitter.com/Pynx2MTDW8

— Eater (@Eater) October 6, 2015

“Depending on the local market, All Day Breakfast will have a limited menu that focuses on either McMuffin or Biscuit items,” a McDonald’s release about the all-day breakfast said. “This decision is made at the local level based on customer preference.”

YOU ARE BOUND BY 10:30 NO LONGER. BE FREE #AllDayBreakfast pic.twitter.com/1VUaWCuWlf

— McDonald’s (@McDonaldsETN) October 6, 2015

McDonald’s began testing the all-day breakfast concept in March. The move, which was very well received by customers, was an attempt to turn around slumping sales, Fox News reports. Sales at the fast food chain have reportedly been declining for the past seven years. McDonald’s is planning to close approximately 700 stores in 2015. The company will be shutting down more stores than it opens for the first time since at least 1970. Some financial estimates indicate the massive restaurant closures have never before occurred in the history of the corporation.

The first McDonalds’ restaurant opened in 1955. A drive-thru window slid open for the first time at the nationwide chain in 1975, the McDonald’s website notes. The store decided to put in a drive-thru window at the location because many of its customers were from a nearby Arizona military base and the soldiers were not allowed to get out of their vehicles while wearing fatigues at that time.

Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, was 52 when the business became a national sensation. Ray Kroc lied about his age when he was 15 in 1917 in order to join the Red Cross as an ambulance driver. World War I ended before he completed his Red Cross training. Kroc then worked as a paper cup salesman, piano player, and a mixer salesman.

Kroc visited San Bernardino, California in 1954. the company had purchased several of the multi-mixers he had been selling. The restaurant, owned by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, was small, but was also achieving success. Kroc was “stunned” by the effective way the brothers ran their store. The menu was small and included basically only hamburgers, fries, and soft drinks. The slight menu allowed the men to concentrate on offering quick service and quality, Ray determined.

Kroc convinced the McDonald brothers that they could develop a system where hamburgers were prepared quickly and of good quality and served the same throughout the nation via franchise restaurants. Six years after founding the McDonald’s System, he bought the rights to the McDonald’s name. By 1958, Ray Kroc and McDonald’s had sold its 100 millionth hamburger.

“Big Breakfast” items, such as the McGriddle sandwiches, bagel sandwiches, cinnamon melts are not included in the all-day breakfast offerings at this time.

The new McDonald’s All-Day Breakfast Menu

McMuffin Market Menu