Discontinued Fast Food Breakfast Items We Are Probably Never Getting Back

The desire for the loyalty and dollars of customers made all the big fast food chains step up their game and get creative and tantalizing with a fairly limited palate of burgers and fries, so it's not surprising that the breakfast sector is just as imaginative and competitive. After the introduction of the Egg McMuffin and a full breakfast menu by McDonald's in the early 1970s, most every other fast food and quick service chain has tried to get some of those early morning dollars. Interrupting a commute for an egg sandwich, or a coffee and a pastry, is part of a regular routine for millions, and a once-in-a-while treat for so many others. Mostly offering variants on the tried-and-true all-American farm breakfast, or in sandwich form, as well as sweet treats, fast food places rely on loyal customers who expect a certain consistency from their morning orders.

But then those same chains will introduce some dazzling breakfast item, build a customer base for it, and then snatch it away. In the end, those new entries to the fast food breakfast canon just couldn't make it, and they disappear. Here are some of the most notable and popular fast food breakfast items that were discontinued and don't look like they're making a comeback anytime soon.

Partially in response to an ongoing cultural conversation that fast food was somewhat responsible for escalating rates of obesity in the United States, and heeding a call for healthier entrées, McDonald's debuted the Egg White Delight in the spring of 2013. The regular Egg McMuffin is made with whole eggs, Canadian bacon, and American cheese on a processed, white bread-style English muffin and contains 300 calories. The Egg White Delight, in contrast, was prepared with grilled egg whites, extra-lean Canadian bacon, and white cheddar cheese, all on a whole grain muffin. The changes shaved off as many as 50 calories and all of the cholesterol found in egg yolks.

McDonald's removed the Egg White Delight from its national menu in 2018, but allowed franchisees to still sell it if the item enjoyed local popularity. It didn't seem to have a following anywhere — it disappeared from McDonald's entirely by 2020 — because so few people cared to ever order it. "Every time McDonald's comes out with healthier things, with cleaner label ingredients, all the people that were vocal about the changes don't go to the restaurant and don't buy the things that they wanted from the restaurants," former McDonald's corporate chef Mike Haracz said on TikTok. "It is inefficient to keep all of these items on a menu if there is not a certain amount of sales for them."

The Cinnamon Melt was certainly not a light breakfast. Reminiscent of the towering, massive, frosting-drenched cinnamon rolls that made Cinnabon a household name, McDonald's take on the classic sweet packed a lot of calories for $1.59, the standard price when it was introduced nationwide in 2007. The 460-calorie product weighed four ounces and was baked in such a way that it could be pulled apart into four separate quadrants, each of them swimming in sweetened cinnamon paste and gooey frosting.

Despite rave reviews and sales substantial enough to keep it on the McDonald's menu for almost a decade, alternately served as both a breakfast and dessert item, the company abruptly stopped selling the Cinnamon Melt in 2016. "Our Cinnamon Melts are sorely missed, but we're sure you'll find a new breakfast sweet with the new desserts coming soon," McDonald's announced on X, formerly known as Twitter.

In the 2000s, North American McDonald's introduced the McCafe concept. Seemingly going head-to-head with and recovering lost morning dollars from Starbucks, McDonald's unveiled its own premium coffee blends and started selling lattes, mochas, and other made-to-order beverages with its in-house espresso machines. As Starbucks also sells danishes and pastries that pair well with coffee drinks, McDonald's used the McCafe branding for various baked goods. In October 2020, the company added the first substantial upgrade to its line of bakery items with the addition of three classic morning sweets: a cinnamon roll, a blueberry muffin, and an apple fritter.

Less than three years later, McDonald's announced that it would do away with the entire selection of McCafe baked goods, which by July 2023 consisted of the cinnamon roll, blueberry muffin, and apple fritter. A McDonald's representative told CNN that the company was "always listening to our fans and adjusting our menu based on what they crave." That means its customers weren't craving standard-issue bakery items, and the company wasn't selling enough of them to justify their existence any longer.

While burger-focused competitors like McDonald's, Burger King, and Carl's Jr. long ago found a foothold with egg-based sandwiches sold in the morning hours, Wendy's has struggled to get a breakfast program off the ground. Prior to a moderately successful 2020 push, Wendy's tried and failed with breakfast in 1985, 2007, and 2012. In the latter campaign, Wendy's offered a menu of fast food breakfast staples — biscuit sandwiches, a breakfast burrito, seasoned potatoes — as well as the unique to the chain Mornin' Melt Panini. Two full-size pieces of buttered sourdough bread held together bacon or sausage, tomato slices, two real eggs, and cheddar and Asiago cheese. The whole thing was then grilled and pressed, in the panini fashion.

Wendy's slowly launched the 2012 breakfast gambit, first as a test and then to a mostly national state, officially ending the experiment in early 2013 after discovering that it wasn't profitable. As the entire breakfast menu was abandoned, that meant the end of the Mornin' Melt Panini.

In 2013, after more than 50 years in business selling Americanized takes on Mexican and Tex-Mex foods after noon and well into the night, Taco Bell made its first meaningful attempt at a breakfast menu. Rather than re-create traditional, pre-existing Mexican breakfast items, Taco Bell stuck to convenience items that its customers could easily understand and want to buy. One of the debut Taco Bell breakfast items: the Waffle Taco. It didn't pull from the Taco Bell playbook as much as it did offer the chain's take on the usual fast food breakfast offerings. The product consisted of sausage, eggs, and cheese placed in a maple syrup-floated waffle which was then folded over to resemble a tortilla or taco shell.

The Waffle Taco was at first test-marketed at a few Taco Bell outlets in southern California. "We'll roll it out to all of our restaurants that serve breakfast," company spokesperson Rob Poetsch told USA Today. Taco Bell's breakfast menu became a permanent fixture, but the Waffle Taco did not. By 2015, that product was gone, and in its place the similar Sausage and Cheese Biscuit Taco — made with a tortilla-imitating folded biscuit instead of the waffle.

Sold only during the last few months of the year to coincide with the winter holiday season, the Eggnog Latte first appeared on the Starbucks beverage menu in 1986, when the company only operated a few locations in Seattle. As the chain expanded into a global brand in the 1990s and beyond, the Eggnog Latte remained an annual, good-selling fixture, combining real eggnog with Starbucks espresso. But as Starbucks got bigger, its menu grew more vast and complicated, leading to the decision to quietly drop the Eggnog Latte. It would have popped up on Starbucks menu boards like it always had in October 2014, but when it didn't, customers noticed. After a widespread phone call and letter-writing campaign, Starbucks hastily restored the Eggnog Latte. "We made a mistake," Starbucks spokesperson Linda Mills told USA Today. "We are very sorry." The drink was nationally available again by mid-November 2014.

And the drink kept returning to Starbucks annually for many more years. In November 2021, Starbucks announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the beverage was discontinued as the chain aimed to focus on other seasonal items. "Eggnog latte is not returning to this year," Starbucks wrote. "If you're looking for a nostalgic Holiday flavor, we recommend our new Iced Sugar Cookie Almondmilk Latte."

Donut Fries were always going to be available for just a short time. Dunkin' Donuts started selling the product in July 2018, just before the Fourth of July holiday, and then into the summer for a little while. Pitched as a snack, but sold alongside Dunkin' many other doughnuts and adjacent baked goods in morning hours, Donut Fries were actually made from croissant dough and finished like churros, covered in a cinnamon sugar blend, and given to customers while they were still warm. An order consisted of five thick, crisp on the outside, soft on the inside Donut Fries for just $2.

Dunkin' caused enough of a stir with its Donut Fries to make McDonald's nervous — the fast food conglomerate announced plans to introduce its own Donut Sticks to its breakfast menu in 2019. Nevertheless, Dunkin' went ahead and discontinued Donut Fries as planned and promised, sunsetting the product at the end of 2018.

Joining McDonald's mostly sandwich-based A.M. menu in November 2007 was the McSkillet Burrito, a breakfast version of Mexican-inspired giant fast food burritos. Into a large tortilla came generous piles of sausage, scrambled eggs, potatoes, peppers, onions, and salsa. Essentially a much bigger and thus pricier version of the modestly sized Sausage Burrito, the McSkillet lasted longer on the menu and sold better than many of McDonald's other ill-fated attempts at Mexican food, such as a test-marketed Chorizo Breakfast Burrito.

The McSkillet wasn't just the only non-sandwich-derivative entree on the McDonald's breakfast menu, it was also the largest. It weighed ½ pound and contained 610 calories, and it registered as McDonald's entry against other towering and extra-hearty fast food breakfast offerings of the mid-2000s, like Burger King's 730-calorie Enormous Omelet Sandwich. The McSkillet cost a lot, however — it was among the most expensive individual items available at McDonald's in the morning, costing as much as $3.29 in some locations. Despite the perceived value and a decent following, McDonald's got rid of the McSkillet in 2010, inspiring unfulfilled online petitions to ask for its restoration.

While it was available throughout the day and marketed as a snack, the Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait arrived on the McDonald's menu in 1999 and combined several traditional breakfast foods into one of the healthiest, fat-scarce items ever offered by the fast food giant. Reduced-fat, vanilla-flavored yogurt was layered with sliced strawberries and entire blueberries, and then topped with granola. The item presaged a conscientious menu overhaul, when McDonald's tried to introduce heart-healthier menu items and ingredients in the early 2000s. The Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait, one of the few McDonald's breakfast items ever made without cheese, sausage, or bacon, fit the bill.

In 2020, amidst the negative economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, McDonald's discovered that it needed to allocate its suddenly limited resources to more efficiently produce what products were actually selling, primarily comfort foods like burgers, fries, and McMuffins. That led to a gutting of the menu's healthier items. Grilled chicken-based products and salads were cut from the lunch and dinner offerings, and the Fruit N' Yogurt Parfait disappeared from McDonald's breakfast menu for good.

Starbucks baristas tired of complicated drink orders must have appreciated Chantico. In 2005, the coffee chain and morning staple for millions whose profits may suffer due to long morning wait times, made a bold move away of the highly-caffeinated sector and straight into the ultra-sweet realm proven to be lucrative by its line of Frappuccinos, with Chantico, marketed as a "drinkable dessert," according to NBC News. A re-creation of very sweet, very thick, luxurious hot chocolate treats enjoyed mostly by discerning adults at cafes in Europe, Chantico got its name from an Aztec deity of fertility and the hearth. More like melted chocolate or cocoa butter than a cup of cocoa, Chantico boasted a high price and high nutritional statistics: At an average price of $2.85, it cost way more than comparable beverages and contained 390 calories and 20 grams of fat. And all of that came in just a six-ounce cup. Chantico was available in only one size, and with no alterations, additions, or subtractions allowed.

As Starbucks customers had grown accustomed to customization, Chantico failed to take off, as common hot chocolate add-ons like whipped cream or flavored syrups weren't permitted. About a year after Chantico's debut, Starbucks stopped serving the beverage in January 2006. "It was something that customers did like, but they wanted to be able to do something else with it," Starbucks spokesperson Alan Hilowitz told NBC News.

Upon its addition to the Jack in the Box breakfast menu in 2014, the Grande Sausage Burrito elevated that standard Mexican-inspired fast food item. Along with sausage, potatoes, eggs, and shredded cheese wrapped in a tortilla, the Grande Sausage Burrito also included crumbles of bacon, a creamy and hot cheese sauce, and sriracha, the spicy and tangy chili condiment with a global following of devoted fans made by Huy Fong Foods. Not the first time Jack in the Box stepped on Taco Bell's turf, the hotter than most others deluxe breakfast burrito was enough of a bestseller that it remained a fixture on the fast food chain's menu for nearly a decade.

In 2023, Jack in the Box stopped selling the Grande Sausage Burrito without advance notice, and without publicly providing a reason. The discontinuation may have had something to do with product scarcity —there was a sriracha shortage in 2022, and there's about to be another sriracha shortage in 2024. That means a petition signed by nearly 900 fans on Change.org couldn't convince Jack in the Box to restore the Grande Sausage Burrito.

For years, morning fast food customers generally had to make a choice between a sweet breakfast or a salty and savory breakfast. McDonald's proved there was a market for a combination of the two realms with the successful early 2000s introduction of McGriddles — breakfast meat, eggs, and American cheese stuck between two maple-infused pancake-like things. The McGriddle proved so popular that other fast food chains noticed and tried to come up with their own spins on the idea. In 2016, Carl's Jr., which once sold a morning-after, heavily tested "Hangover Meal," tentatively introduced two new related breakfast menu items: the Fresh Baked Cornbread Breakfast Sandwich and the Fresh Baked Blueberry Muffin Breakfast Sandwich. Each product came standard with folded eggs, American cheese, and the customer's choice of sausage, ham, or bacon, and between two muffin tops, in cornbread or blueberry preparations.

Sold for just $2.99, the quirky sandwich didn't really have another corollary in fast food or breakfast in general. Carl's Jr. never moved forward on the Fresh Baked Muffin Sandwich past test marketing it at just two Southern California locations.

Several years after McDonald's entrenched the McGriddles sandwich into the breakfast fast food landscape, Jack in the Box made its own move with a morning sandwich consisting of fatty pork, eggs, and cheese inside of maple syrup-soaked items used in place of an English muffin or a biscuit. As a McGriddles sandwich is made with what are essentially pancakes, Jack in the Box's idea, debuting on the menu in the summer of 2012, was made with waffles. Using the sandwich to debut its reformulated country-grilled sausage, the Breakfast Waffle Sandwich utilized waffle buns as its outer casing, as the top, maple-flavored piece resembled a round frozen waffle and the bottom came flat, without the gridded compartments.

Always intended to be a limited-time-only offering, the Jack in the Box Breakfast Waffle Sandwich didn't sell well enough to earn an extension on its brief lifespan. It disappeared from the national Jack in the Box menu after just a few months of availability.