with its Breakfast
Baconators and
Frosty-ccinos,
and McDonald’s
answered with
Chicken McGriddles
and McChicken
Biscuits. If we’ve
learned anything
from last year’s
chicken-sandwich
wars, this is just
the beginning!Plant-Based Meats
an Impossible Croissan’wich.
More Coffee
To lure regulars, Burger King is offeringand espresso drinks.
Egg-Centric ItemsBreakfast
Is Served
Inspired by
eggs Benedict,
a McDonald’s
franchisee cooked
an egg in a Teflon
ring and served it
on an English muffin
with Canadian
bacon and cheese.
The Egg McMuffin
was a hit, and
hotcakes, sausage
and hash browns
soon followed.Coffee Craze
Busy Americans
were used to
grabbing breakfast
on the go, but
now they wanted
good coffee along
with it. Starbucks
expanded from
84 locations in
1990 to 2,498
in 1999.Chain Reaction
By 1986, a quarter
of all breakfasts
eaten outside the
home were from
McDonald’s—
and other
chains wanted
in. Breakfast
sandwiches
appeared at Burger
King, White Castle
and Chick-fil-A,
while Wendy’s
experimented
briefly with omelets.Not-So-
Super Sizes
Rising obesity
rates and movies
like Super Size Me
forced chains to
reconsider their
offerings. Following
negative press,
Burger King nixed
its Enormous
Omelet Sandwich,
which had 47 grams
of fat and nearly
2,000 milligrams
of sodium.Egg White
Mania
McDonald’s added
calorie counts
to its menus
and rolled out
healthier options,
like an egg white
McMuffin. Similar
items showed up
at Subway, Dunkin’
Donuts and Jack
in the Box, and by
2014 the country
was facing an egg
white shortage!he new Breakfast Baconator at Wendy’s may be the
most highly anticipated egg sandwich of all time.
It’s definitely over-the-top—a square sausage patty,
American cheese, a fried egg, six slices of bacon and a
hollandaise-style sauce piled onto a bun—but that’s not
why everyone’s buzzing about it. The sandwich marks the
chain’s fourth attempt to get into the breakfast game and
the industry’s biggest shake-up since McDonald’s unveiledits all-day breakfast in 2015. Why do burger chains care so
much about breakfast? In the past five years, fast food
breakfast visits spiked nearly 8 percent, while lunch
and dinner visits dipped, according to the data firm
NPD Group. Our appetite has sparked a fast food feud,
with doughnut fries, breakfast burgers and chicken
biscuits popping up left and right. Here’s a closer look at
the fast food breakfast wars—and a peek at what’s next.“A Sausage McMuffin
with Egg and a small
schmear of jelly. Side of
hash browns.”
—Jeff Mauro“It’s a tie between
Starbucks’s egg white
bites and an
Egg McMuffin!”
—Molly Yeh“A Dunkin’ caramel coffee
with a maple-bacon
croissant, and a specialty
doughnut for later.”
—Sunny AndersonMorning
Showdown
Get ready for a new era of fast food breakfast.
Fast Forward
We asked Food Network stars for their go-to fast food orders. Here’s where breakfast is headed.What’s for Breakfast?
19 70s 198 0s 199 0s 2 000s 201 0s 2020
in the know
24 FOOD NETWORK MAGAZINE ●MAY 2020
ENORMOUS OMELET SANDWICH: SHUTTERSTOCK.t
Food Fight
Wendy's reignited
the breakfast wars- • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
- Dunkin', Hardee's and Carl's Jr. are
: all selling Beyond Meat's imitation - sausage, and Burger King is testing _ __ .,
- a daily cup of coffee for just $5 a month;
: other chains are investing in cold brew
- The keto diet has people reaching for
: high-protein, low-carb options like - Starbucks's Sous Vide Egg Bites.
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