McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) to trademark “McBrunch”

In its renewed effort to take over the fashionable breakfast trend that has taken over the world, McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) is in the process of attaining a trademark for the word “McBrunch”, that may just charm those that get out of bed late.

The patent, filed by the people that brought the ever popular Egg McMuffin to the world on July 23 this year, shows McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) is moving towards the expansion of its ever growing and lucrative breakfast segment. During a revenue call this past spring, Peter Benson, the CFO of McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD), stated that it had been more than three decades since they started providing breakfast to customers and is one of the day’s busiest times. Breakfast is the strongest contender when it comes to the profit aspect of McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) business.

According to the Wall Street Journal, approximately a quarter of the revenues McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) earns are during breakfast hours.

Now that competition among fast food chains is fierce, recent opportunities in the growing breakfast market have risen. McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) has more competitors in this segment than before; however the fact remains that it continues to enjoy one third of the total breakfast revenues in the fast food market.

Starbucks also has its eye set on the breakfast segment and is focusing on providing a variety of breakfast sandwiches since spring. Taco Bell started its breakfast menu in March but thinks it can be a competition to other fast food chains which serve breakfast. It is reported that the company is in the process of testing a breakfast taco. Burger King, on the other hand, is sure that customers will want burgers for breakfast when they head to work – which is why their breakfast menu has burgers on it.

According to Benson, McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) main fast food rivals have started serving breakfast and, every year, the numbers are increasing. The truth is that fast food chains that serve breakfast in the US bring in approximately $50 billion in revenues annually making up almost all the fast food industry’s progress.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) has refuted that it has any intent connected to the “McBrunch” trademark. Lisa McComb, a McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) spokesperson, denied to CNBC on Thursday that they were debating starting a McBrunch trademark, even though she understood that consumers would probably enjoy the idea that they could get their Egg White Delight or the other breakfast foods at a later time. She mentioned that McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) does file intentions to practice trademark applications during the course of their business, but could not divulge any details right now on how the trademarks could be used.

However, there are very few fast food chains that serve breakfast items during the late morning or early afternoon times, and even less that serve breakfast during the weekends even though that is when demand would probably be at its peak. McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) has been thinking of increasing its weekday breakfast timings for quite some time, and even revisited the idea earlier this year, but then thought it may be a hard concept to pull off when looking at it from a logistic standpoint. It is reasonable to believe that McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) is thinking about serving the Egg McMuffin after 11am and may even be moving closer to changing its idea into reality.