ATLANTA -- While lunch remains the busiest part of the day for fast-food restaurants, breakfast is quickly catching up in both foot traffic and revenue because of the needs of time-crunched Americans, said The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Traditional offerings like scrambled eggs, biscuits and pancakes are being joined by bagels, yogurt, stick-shaped French toast and assorted coffee flavors. The items are smaller, easier to unwrap and less susceptible to falling apart, making them easier to eat while stuck in traffic.
"Breakfast is not our most important part of the day, but it [image-nocss] is fastest growing," Don Perry, a spokesperson for Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A, told the newspaper. "There is a lot of opportunity there."
Demand is growing because business hours are beginning earlier and earlier and traffic is becoming ever more congested, said the report. That is forcing families to skip breakfast at home in exchange for something quick on the road.
Fast-food breakfast sales have grown every year for the past five years, the report said, citing the NPD Group Inc., the Port Washington, N.Y.-based consulting firm.
"Everybody is trying to utilize every minute they have," Tim Mescon, dean of the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University, told the paper.
The chains are responding with new menu items, opening their doors earlier, expanding the hours that breakfast is served and adding staff to minimize drive-through wait times.
"You have to remember that the chains have a physical asset—the store—that is just sitting there and if it's not producing revenue, it is not an asset," Mescon said. "They want to drive revenues and the more possibilities that can do that—like breakfast—adds to the bottom line."
Chick-fil-A strengthened its breakfast menu a few years ago, adding chicken biscuits, breakfast burritos, chicken minis and premium coffees. Wendy's has introduced a "Buttermilk Frescuit," a biscuit that customers can customize with egg, cheese and a breakfast meat like sausage, hickory-smoked bacon or ham."Everyone sees the same data that we do and it shows that the category is growing," Ken White, marketing director for McDonald's Atlanta region, told the paper. "Consumer tastes are changing. A lot of this has to do with the time crunch."
David Farmer, Chick-fil-A's senior director of customer experience, said breakfast customers also tend to be the most loyal. Because workers generally take the same route to work everyday, they form routines that can include stopping at their favorite restaurants. "Breakfast tends to be a habit," he told the paper. "People may not eat at the same place for lunch everyday, but they will with breakfast. If you can pick up a breakfast customer, you've got a valuable customer for life."
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