McDonald’s to test all-day breakfast beginning in April

NEW YORK (AP) – McDonald’s plans to test an all-day breakfast at some locations in the San Diego area starting next month.

The company said in a statement that the test is in response to customers who have said they’d like to eat breakfast foods outside the typical morning hours that they are served.

The world’s largest restaurant chain said the test will include a partial menu and feature some of McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches and hash browns. The company didn’t say which sandwiches would make the cut.

Fans of McDonald’s breakfast menu have long wanted the option to get breakfast at McDonald’s after 10:30 a.m. But offering both the breakfast and lunch menu had been considered logistically impossible, given the tight kitchen spaces of the restaurants.

Still, last month Jeff Stratton, head of McDonald’s USA, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the company was taking a look at how it could make breakfast available later in the day.

The push to make breakfast outside normal hours partly reflects how McDonald’s is working to keep pace with shifting habits. In particular, executives have noted that customers increasingly want foods personalized to their tastes and schedules.

McDonald’s said it was too early to speculate on any outcomes from the test.

Shares of McDonald’s Corp., based in Oak Brook, Illinois, added $1.04 to $98 in afternoon trading.