McDonald's All-Day Breakfast Generating Positive Results

CHICAGO — Two and a half months after McDonald's began offering all-day breakfast, the program has been initially successful in attracting new or lapsed buyers and increasing lunch visits, according to a study by The NPD Group.

There has also been a sizeable lift in breakfast food orders throughout the day, according to Checkout Tracking, NPD's receipt-harvesting service.

Examining the purchase behavior of McDonald's breakfast buyers who purchased breakfast foods beyond traditional breakfast hours, NPD found that one-third of these customers had not made McDonald's purchases at all prior to the Oct. 6 launch of all-day breakfast.

The study also found that McDonald's customers did order breakfast foods beyond the traditional morning daypart and were most interested in ordering breakfast food at lunch, which is the chain's busiest time of day. Among customers who purchased breakfast foods 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 rose from 39 percent pre-launch to 47 percent post-launch.

"This preliminary review of McDonald's all-day breakfast offer suggests consumers are receptive to ordering McDonald's breakfast foods beyond traditional breakfast hours," stated Bonnie Riggs, NPD's 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."

The Checkout Tracking study analyzed a database containing receipts from more than 27,000 McDonald's static buyers who visited before and after the all-day breakfast launch.