The Southern Breakfast You Can Only Find At Certain McDonald's Locations

It's safe to say that McDonald's is well known for having a wide array of breakfast dishes available for its large fanbase to enjoy each day before 11:00 am each morning when restaurants switch to the lunch menu. However, one breakfast dish that many people living in Southern states specifically get to indulge in is none other than biscuits and gravy, a delectable southern dish that primarily appears at select McDonald's locations across the American South. The main exception to this rule seems to be Ohio, where certain McDonald's locations do offer biscuits and gravy despite the state's distinction as a part of the Midwest.

While believed to be a secret menu fixture, the delicious breakfast item is readily available and advertised on the McDonald's website (with the added clarification that only select locations carry it). While the reason for this limited availability is unknown, certain regions likely have a lower demand for biscuits and gravy. Instead of stocking every McDonald's restaurant in America with southern-style sausage gravy — an ingredient not found elsewhere on most McDonald's menus — the dish can only be found in places where it would be considered popular.

Now, while McDonald's did offer biscuits and gravy as a menu item nationwide once upon a time, it has become one of the many beloved regional delights of the fast food juggernaut. McDonald's biscuits and gravy are far from the first region-specific menu item in the global chain's long and storied history. While you likely know about all the unique international McDonald's items you can buy, even select states and cities within the United States are often given specialty choices that aren't available anywhere else in the world. This includes Hawaii's fried apple pies, once available nationwide before being swapped out to the modern baked variation.

However, while biscuits and gravy have been on McDonald's menu in some stores for decades now, most regional specialties usually only last for a brief period of time. Items like bratwurst — one of the last dishes you'd expect to see at a McDonald's — have been seen in Michigan and Wisconsin at key points over the past few decades. Furthermore, similar to biscuits and gravy, the McLobster was introduced nationwide back in 1993 but has since become region-specific; the renamed lobster roll is now only sold seasonally at key locations in New England.