Canadians gobbling up all-day breakfast at fast food chains

All-day breakfast from McDonald’s and A&W has been a major hit in Canada. Image: A&W Canada, Twitter

All-day breakfast from McDonald’s and A&W has been a major hit in Canada, according to new numbers obtained exclusively by 680 NEWS business editor, Richard Southern.

Also read, Consumers Shifting Away from Fast-Food Breakfast.

Both companies rolled out all-day breakfast in Canada in February and while McDonald’s doesn’t detail its Canadian sales, data from The NPD Group finds that McMuffins in the afternoon have been a huge hit.

• Since February, Canadians are eating 140,000 more breakfast sandwiches a month
• Since February, Canadians are eating 240,000 more hash browns a month
• Breakfast in the afternoon is growing at a 5 per cent rate and is peaking between 6-8 p.m., showing Canadians like breakfast foods at dinner.
  

The big concern has been that all-day breakfast would take sales away form the other, more lucrative parts of McDonald’s menu but that does not appear to be happening. While there has been a slight decline in burgers and chicken sandwich sales, both A&W and McDonald’s have grown their average eater cheques since February, suggesting that diners are adding on breakfast items while continuing to buy the more expensive burger offerings.

The sold results could have other chains like Tim Hortons extending breakfast offerings into the afternoon and evening hours.

“I would expect that we will start to see some of the other players that have strong breakfast programs extend those items throughout the day,” Robert Carter, Director of food services at the NPD Group, told Southern.

SOURCE Richard Southern, 680 NEWS