McDonald’s (MCD) might want to put Egg McMuffins into the national brunch discussion. The burger giant has applied to trademark “McBrunch,” signaling yet another possible approach to boost its late-morning business on the weekends.
Breakfast is the quickest-growing time of day for fast-food sales, and McDonald’s has been fighting to keep its lead against an increasingly crowded field of morning competitors. More robust food offerings from Starbucks (SBUX) now vie with a new morning menu at Taco Bell and better coffee from Chick-fil-A on the breakfast battlefield.
While brunch could attract more morning traffic to McDonald’s, a fast-food restaurant is not an obvious fit for a brunch gathering—often thought of as a leisurely, possibly hungover meal, perhaps accompanied by Bloody Marys unlikely to appear on a McDonald’s menu. Earlier this year, one New York McDonald’s even called police to remove seniors who spent hours sipping coffee with their friends. The restaurant manager later decided to ease the 20-minute time limit during off-peak hours, and the seniors agreed to give up their seats to other customers during peak time.
Fast-food brunch has been tried before. Burger King (BKW) briefly tested a brunch menu that included nonalcoholic mimosas—orange juice mixed with Sprite—and a ciabatta breakfast sandwich. It was offered in only a few markets in Massachusetts and Florida during regular breakfast hours, according to a report in BurgerBusiness, and the brunch experiment never went national.
Operational complications currently hold back McDonald’s from offering breakfast all day, executives have said, but perhaps a flirtation with McBrunch could signal an extension of breakfast hours. The chain is already serving some breakfast items on a “McDonald’s After Midnight” menu between midnight and 4 a.m. at certain locations.
The company won’t say what it’s up to. “We routinely file intent to use trademark applications as a regular course of business,” said McDonald’s spokeswoman Lisa McComb in an e-mail. “We can’t share details at this time as to how the trademarks may or may not be used.” Just seeking to trademark a term might mean nothing in the end: Applebee’s (DIN), for instance, recently applied to trademark “No Tech Tuesday” but denies any plans to ban restaurant customers from using their devices on Tuesdays. A brunch-ified McMuffin might likewise just be an idea for McDonald’s to chew over.
