The Legend Of The McDonald's Breakfast Buffet

Giants once walked the earth. At some point in the hazy, half-remembered past, there were supposedly fast food buffets popping up all across America: Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, and Wendy's got in on the action, offering diners as much fast food as they could eat for one low price. With the exception of Wendy's well-documented Superbar, however, this is all based on rumors and hearsay — if these overflowing cornucopias ever existed, they certainly don't anymore. But one fabled all-you-can-eat location looms large: the mythical McDonald's breakfast buffet, which may or may not have existed in the first place.

Reports showed up on Reddit and in retrospective articles: One person fondly remembers plates piled high with hotcakes, while another recalls a serving tray filled with disgusting-looking grits. Others, however, had never even heard of such a thing, let alone seen it themselves, as is so often the case with nostalgic confusion. It was considered an example of "the Mandela effect," a phenomenon wherein two groups of people have two wildly different memories, such as remembering Nelson Mandela dying in a South African prison. (It has been cited as possible proof of alternate universes, which is apparently a more likely explanation than "people having faulty memories.") But what else could explain it?

One explanation might lie in the franchise model. Like many other fast food chains, McDonald's allows franchisees to run their own restaurants, and while there is a high degree of standardization, it's not unheard of for some restaurants to do their own thing. For instance, the McFlurry was invented in Canada by a McDonald's franchisee and spread to other locations from there. It's possible that some franchises decided to get in on the buffet trend back when it was in style, then stopped once it became clear that it was losing them money.

It's also possible that people are crossing wires in their minds. Despite fond memories of a McDonald's all-day breakfast being served, the practice only lasted five years, starting in 2015 and stopping in 2020. Maybe the more nostalgic folks among us are remembering other breakfast buffets, mixing them up in their minds with the mythic all-day McDonald's breakfast, and going from there? Who's to say? But now that the pandemic is in the rearview, why not try it again?