Cravings know no boundaries, and sometimes, you just want a Big Mac for breakfast.
You're an adult, after all, and adulting is hard.
There's no reason you shouldn't be able to have a Big Mac first thing in the morning…
so why on earth would McDonald's deny you?
"I would like to buy a hamburger!"
"I would like to buy a hamburgah!"
"I would like to buy a hamburger!"
"I would like to buy de burguh!"
"I would like to buy a hamburger!"
"Iwouldlietobuyhambuguh!"
It turns out there are two reasons: the official one, and then the real one.
First, there's the official reason.
McDonald's spokespeople told The Wall Street Journal that it's simple: people don't really
want it.
"The demand isn't strong enough to warrant running the burger grill in the morning."
Hardcore morning burger fans clearly disagree, though.
So what's the real reason McDonald's doesn't serve burgers in the morning?
Well, according to a number of Reddit posters who claim to be current or former McDonald's
employees, it has to do with how the kitchen works.
It turns out there's a big transition between the breakfast menu and the lunch menu.
Some of it is for health and safety reasons, as there's a process for handling and serving
meat that needs to be followed.
But there's also the issue of cooking different types of food on the same grill, with one
poster saying,
"I'm cringing at the thought of biting into some grilled chicken with McDonald's sausage
grease in it."
And over on Quora, a McDonald's employee pointed out that eggs and burgers are cooked on the
same equipment at very different temperatures, and there's no way to easily switch between
the two.
Try to cook them at the same temperature and you'll get undercooked burgers and overcooked
eggs, and nobody wants either of those things.
Of course, burger conspiracy theorists point out the big flaw in these arguments: all day
breakfast.
But before you do your gotcha dance, there are a couple issues with that argument.
First, according to Reader's Digest, all day breakfast has caused longer wait times in
the afternoon.
Which is fine for the lazy loafers who eat at McDonald's for their mid day snack.
But longer lines caused by serving both meal options could be a major issue for commuters
trying to beat the early morning rush to work.
That's one of the reasons they held off on all-day breakfast to begin with.
"Sorry, sir, we stopped serving breakfast."
"What are you talking about, we're four seconds late!"
"No, you're 30 minutes and four seconds late, we stopped serving breakfast at 10:30."
"Aww, HORSES---!"
The other thing is, as Slate points out, McDonald's isn't actually offering their entire breakfast
menu all day.
It varies by region and by store, and in some locations there are just some options you
can't get.
Many aren't serving hash browns all day, for example, just because it's logistically impossible.
There just isn't enough room in the fryers to make hash browns and fries, so cuts are
necessary.
And making fries in the morning wouldn't really be feasible anyway, because fries are made
in bulk batches.
As one Reddit philosopher pointed out,
"… they have to put on an entire basket full.
So I sort of understand if in the morning, they don't want to make all these fries for
the one guy asking for them."
Still, all-night workers and early-morning snackers shouldn't lose hope.
After all, just a few short years ago, fans were bemoaning the fact that all day breakfast
wasn't a thing.
It just speaks to the power of bemoaning that now, all day breakfast exists.
So maybe all day burgers could follow suit at some point in the future, though hopefully
all-day burger advocates won't be quite so… militant with their demands.
"I don't want lunch, I want breakfast."
"Yeah, well, hey.
I'm really sorry."
"Yeah, well, hey, I'm really sorry too!"
And here's a bit of news that will give burger lovers even more to feel good about.
McDonald's does, in fact, serve both burgers and breakfast alongside each other during
all hours of the day in one country: Australia.
In 2018, News.com.au confirmed that the plan, which had started out as a trial in just a
few areas of the country, was going nationwide, with Big Macs, cheeseburgers, McNuggets, Quarter
Pounders, and fries making the jump to the breakfast menu.
Does that mean there's potential for it to happen in the US, too?
As noted burger enthusiast Kevin Garnett famously said,
"Anything is possible.
Anything is POSSIBLE!!!"
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