Dive Brief:

• McDonald's will give franchisees the ability to select which items they want to serve on the restaurant's all-day breakfast menu depending on local demand of those items, according to a company announcement. That means a local operator could simplify its all-day breakfast meal starting at 10:30 a.m. or continue to feature the expanded breakfast menu before shifting to diner favorites at 2 p.m.
• This change followed evaluations on ways to improve execution and the overall guest experience focused on offering local favorites.
• The menu refresh is expected to begin as early as July and will be finalized by the end of the third quarter.

Dive Insight:

Citing increased drive-thru times and challenges related to the ongoing labor shortage, McDonald's has been keenly focused on improving efficiency, especially when it comes to its menu. It previously cut down its late-night menu to only include popular items and will be phasing out its Signature Crafted Recipe burgers and sandwiches in June.

Simplifying its menu is expected to improve the drive-thru experience, especially since its drive-thru times are the worst among the top fast food chains. It is also rolling out digital drive-thru menus that will offer customer personalization in the coming months.

These breakfast changes are also an appeal to franchisees, which have been struggling to keep up with constant menu adjustment within the last few years, in addition to costly renovations. Focusing only on the items that sell could help boost profits for operators.

While allowing flexibility within its all-day breakfast menu could ease some franchisee frustrations, it could also create confusion among customers expecting consistency across restaurants, Technomic senior manager of consumer insights Robert Byrne told The Wall Street Journal. Still, McDonald's claims that its tests of the model didn't confuse diners, according to The Journal. 

Since these changes are also meant to decrease drive-thru times, which are particularly long at night, the overall customer experience could improve across the board, potentially minimizing the impact of inconsistent menu offerings.