McDonald's fast-food competitors have learned the secret of the breakfast menu. The American burger joint may have at least one more trick up its sleeve to keep customers satisfied.
McDonald's filed a federal trademark registration for the term "McBrunch" in July, according to BurgerBusiness blog. The company confirmed the filing, but any speculation of a McBrunch program is "highly premature."
"We routinely file intent to use trademark applications as a regular course of business," McDonald's spokeswoman Lisa McComb told BurgerBusiness. "We can't share details at this time as to how the trademarks may or may not be used."
The term isn't exactly a new concept. McDonald's made a similar filing in 2001, but abandoned its application. There's no current testing for a McBrunch concept, according to McComb.
"There's no reason to file for it if you don't plan to use it," Scott Hume, editor of BurgerBusiness, told USA Today about the new trademark request. "Their declining sales show they have to do something."
McDonald's global same-store sales dropped 3.7 percent for the month of August, the worst in a decade, according to USA Today. Its U.S. same-store sales also saw a 2.7 percent drop last month.
Hume speculates that a McDonald's brunch schedule would run only on weekends and holidays. The fast-food joint would extend the 10:30 a.m. breakfast hour to noon or possibly 1 p.m. It would also feature items not currently on the breakfast menu, but options available on other menus in its foreign locales.
New Zealand McDonald's offers a Massive McMuffin that consists of two sausage patties, bacon, a freshly cracked egg, a slice of cheese and ketchup on a hot toasted English Muffin. Germany put crispy breaded chicken on its McMuffin Fresh Chicken. It includes spicy cheese, crisp lettuce and tomatoes, topped off with a mild sauce on a toasted muffin.
McDonald's tested breakfast pastries in San Diego and mini bundt cakes in Boca Raton, Florida and Nevada earlier this year.
