“Breakfast is the most profitable part of the day': Fast-food chains ramp up promotions and loyalty programs as employees return to the office.
David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images fileAs more employees return to the office — and their daily commutes — fast-food chains are ramping up promotions and loyalty programs in a move to make fast-food breakfast a part of workers’ morning routines.
Even as millions of workers continued to work remotely and children were only partly back to in-person school, customer traffic at fast-food restaurants was up by 11 percent in 2021, according to the National Restaurant Association, an industry trade group. To keep things moving, a lot of the bigger fast-food chains have invested in technology that can reduce wait times at the drive-thru. They’ve also stepped up rewards programs and special deals for customers who download their apps, which have become key promotional tools. McDonald’s, for instance, offers coffee, hot or iced, any size, for 99 cents. But it must be ordered through the app.
McDonald’s, which is credited with putting fast-food breakfast on the map more than 50 years ago when it introduced the Egg McMuffin, still owns the morning, with about 27 percent of customer traffic, according to the food-service consulting firm Technomic. The company took out a giant billboard in Times Square in New York City to mock McDonald’s on the 49th anniversary of the Egg McMuffin, with a giant tweet saying, “McDonald’s has just announced a partnership with the NHL to provide them with hockey pucks,” and it produced a series of ads, including one featuring a former McDonald’s chef making a “chef’s kiss” after taking a bite of Wendy’s Baconator. By the end of 2021, breakfast sales at the chain were up by 25 percent over the previous year.
“Fast food companies are positioned well to catch consumers looking to return to their pre-pandemic routines,” said Maeve Webster, the president of the menu and strategic consulting firm Menu Matters.
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