Big hitters McDonald’s and Taco Bell, rivals for the lion’s share of the US fast food market, are set to slug it out for customers over breakfast in the latest round of their contest. Taco Bell has just announced its $1 breakfast menu, available all morning, in a bid to claw back some of the ground gained by McDonald’s all-day breakfast offering introduced last October.

Taco Bell is the latest fast food chain to jump on the wagon of offering breakfast items, encouraged by a shift in eating habits away from traditional cereals and a preference for breakfast items throughout the day, although this chain is offering its menu only until 11.00am.

Its options include a mini skillet bowl (a breakfast bowl of ‘fluffy’ eggs, potatos, cheese, and salsa), a breakfast soft taco, and a sausage flatbread quesadilla (the flatbread is described as ‘pillowy’). Taco Bell calls this menu revamp an “extension of the brand’s long-standing promise to deliver quality food at great value”, and at $1 an item the second claim seems accurate enough.

Breakfast Wars

McDonald’s latest quarterly results were boosted by its all-day breakfast menu, but in November the chain dropped its $1 an item approach for a ‘McPick 2 for $2’ deal. In February, McDonald’s increased the price to $5, giving Taco Bell some hope that taking over the $1 breakfast menu will boost its own share and its bottom line.

In Association with

The breakfast wars will go on. Burger King, Wendy’s and other lesser lights have all got in on the act, and the reason is clear: breakfast is one area of fast food that’s growing. Breakfast sales in the US have risen by about 5% a year from 2007 to 2012, while sales of other meals have remained virtually flat.

Burger King offers ‘five for $4’ breakfasts, for the hungrier diner, and Wendy’s comes close with its ‘four for $4’ breakfast. But —  shades of ‘Pulp Fiction’ — Taco Bell has an ace up its sleeve: it boasts that its dollar menu is the only chain menu with some breakfast items containing bacon.