Boost all-day profits with morning flavors
SUMMARY: With breakfast flavors extending beyond the morning daypart, operators can craft craveable snacks, happy hour bites and late‑night offerings that drive traffic.
Reimagining the morning staples
Over the past few years, all-day breakfast has been a macro trend within the restaurant industry, with breakfast sandwiches crossing over onto lunch menus and dishes such as chicken and waffles being offered at both breakfast and dinner alike.
But today, breakfast flavors and ingredients, including fried potatoes, maple and bacon are popping up in smaller formats at restaurants offering bar bites, happy hour deals and late-night eats — providing a great opportunity for restaurants to boost sales by offering diners craveable foods while also stretching their food dollars by incorporating ingredients they already have on hand.
Breakfast bites, all day long
From cold pizza to breakfast burgers, p.m. flavors have long since infiltrated breakfast in the minds of guests. Turns out 66% of consumers order breakfast foods outside traditional breakfast hours.2 Savory breakfast options in particular are becoming more popular as diners seek alternatives to sugar-laden morning meals, with hearty dishes like shakshuka, breakfast flatbreads and savory oatmeal bowls leading the way.1 On the flip side, infusing breakfast flavors into lunch and dinner is a newer trend — one that represents a fresh opportunity for operators to differentiate and drive sales.
And let’s not forget about snack time. Breakfast foods aren’t just for mornings — 51% of consumers say they like to eat breakfast foods as snacks. This gives operators a true all-day opportunity to drive sales.
Overall, snacking is on the rise, too, and it’s reshaping how diners engage with menus. Nearly half of Americans (48.8%) snack three or more times a day, a 2.7% increase year-over-year, with younger demographics (ages 18–44) leading the charge.3
Breakfast flavors aren’t just trending — they’re redefining snacking, happy hour and late-night menus.
How to incorporate breakfast anytime
In order to menu breakfast-esque snacks later in the day or in different formats, it can be helpful to offer different-sized portions. For instance, instead of a slice of quiche or a plate of home fries, restaurants can offer frittata bites or tater tots (menued as “dippable hash browns”) with delicious condiments such as flavored aiolis. Breakfast “nachos” can also be menued as a bar nibble, happy hour shareable or late-night snack. Swap the tortilla chips for Brew City® Beer Batter Potato Waves to make delicious Sunrise Fries topped with scrambled eggs, chopped bacon, melted cheese and chili crisp.
Additionally, bar snacks, happy hour apps and late-night eats have at least one thing in common: they all have the potential to be served around alcoholic beverages.
Restaurants that want to appeal to diners’ desire for breakfast foods all day can tap into their cravings by offering breakfast-style snacks, happy hour eats and late-night options. By making breakfast foods more available during more hours of the day, restaurants can count on attracting those diners whose love for breakfast is never-ending.
SOURCES
1Toast; Breakfast Trends.
2Technomic; 2024 Breakfast Multi Client Study.
3Circana; Snacking Research.
