breakfast sandwich.
Consider that Sonic SONC, +0.32% , with 3,500-plus restaurants spread across more than 40 states, has just started rolling out its French Toaster, a sandwich that features the usual morning fare — eggs, cheese and sausage or bacon — but with a twist: Instead of plain ol’ white bread, the wrapping is (you guessed it) French toast.
The offering follows on the heels of such recent others as Taco Bell’s YUM, +0.43% Waffle Taco and Dunkin’ Donuts’ DNKN, +1.75% Glazed Breakfast Sandwich. And for those who really want to push the limits with their morning meal, Carl’s Jr. has apparently been test-marketing something called The Aporkalypse, replete with bacon, sausage and ham. (A Carl’s Jr. spokesperson could not be reached for comment.)
What’s behind the boom? For starters, it’s all about staying competitive in what has become one of the few growth areas in the fast-food industry — that is, the breakfast category overall: Breakfast sales at fast-food chains increased by 4.8% annually from 2007 to 2012, according to market researcher Technomic, outpacing the growth of lunch and dinner sales. (It doesn’t help that fast-food chains are facing increased competition from fast-casual chains during lunch and dinner.) Technomic adds that breakfast sales slowed somewhat in 2014 to about 3.5%, but that’s partly because fast-food chains are finding increased business for snack items during late morning.
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And why sandwiches as opposed to platters of eggs or pancakes? That’s easy: The morning is about on-the-go convenience. “Portable food is important at breakfast,” says Bret Thorn, senior editor with Nation’s Restaurant News, a trade publication. And, naturally, sandwiches are the ultimate in portability.
But what’s interesting is that breakfast sandwiches have become platforms of culinary expression and creativity for fast-food chains — a chance to take chances, in other words. Thorn notes that it’s a time that even the most unadventurous Americans are willing to embrace their inner chili head (think breakfast burritos). And that’s to say nothing of the whole sweet-meets-salty flavor combo that’s come to define breakfast in the fast-food universe (think McDonald’s MCD, -1.46% McGriddles sandwiches).
As for Sonic, it says it’s been building its breakfast program for about a decade and the morning meal now accounts for 12% of overall sales. Sonic says it stepped up its breakfast program in the past couple of years with the launch of specialty breakfast burritos — for example, a Southwestern-inspired chipotle burrito in the fall of 2013 — so a one-of-a-kind sandwich seemed a logical next step.
The chain admits, however, it won’t go as far as to offer a breakfast burger, though at least one other chain has tried the idea . Still, Sonic vice president Claes Petersson says there are diners who order a standard Sonic burger in the morning. And there are also those who order breakfast items well after breakfast. “You can have a French Toaster in the middle of the day, |
