The Real Reason McDonald's Doesn't Serve Burgers For Breakfast

Most fast food joints have breakfast menus these days, but McDonald's has long been one of the most popular spots for a morning meal. A 2015 poll by Instantly, a consumer insights platform, found that the Golden Arches was the number one fast food breakfast, with 44 percent of Americans dubbing it their favorite (via Eater). With mouthwatering classics like the Egg McMuffin, crispy hash browns, and the McGriddle (bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiched between two pancakes), how could you resist? 

But despite the fact that McDonald's breakfast items have such a cult following, not everyone is happy with egg sandwiches and syrup-smothered everything in the morning. Apparently, a lot of customers have requested burgers to be served for breakfast at the fast food restaurant. A former employee even admitted that this has been a thing since 1972, according to Reader's Digest. But McDonald's has yet to offer its famous patties before lunchtime — and here's why.

Reader's Digest's source, former employee Richard Widman, said that the reason why McDonald's doesn't offer burgers in the morning is because the kitchen isn't equipped to make both breakfast food and patties simultaneously. He explained that the temperature needed to cook eggs is much lower than that needed to cook burgers. Trying to cook eggs at the burger's temperature would make them tough and burnt, while trying to cook burgers at the eggs' temperature would make the meat mushy.

This has been confirmed by McDonald's, which wrote on its FAQ section that "Breakfast and main menu items cook at different temperatures and we need the same set of equipment to cook sausage and eggs and beef patties; there is limited space in the kitchen and we have the maximum amount of grills at the moment in all our restaurants."