Fast food companies amp up breakfast competition

Chick-fil-A just announced it will roll out a new spicy chicken biscuit on Jan. 10. McDonald's, purveyor of the Big Mac, plans to sell oatmeal -- yes, oatmeal. And Wendy's is testing a new breakfast menu, including a warm oatmeal bar and a panini sandwich, in Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Shreveport and Louisville. More test markets will be added in 2011. Wendy's, part of Atlanta-based Wendy's/Arby's Group, plans to begin a national roll-out in late 2011 on a market-by-market basis.

Much is at stake. The morning meal remains a bright spot in the restaurant industry, which has endured two years of declines in visits and is just beginning to level out. Breakfast sales accounted for 60 percent of growth in restaurant traffic over the past five years.

Over that span, traffic into restaurants for breakfast grew an average of two percent per year, with four of five breakfasts purchased at fast-food restaurants. Meanwhile, overall lunch visits to restaurants were flat and dinner traffic dropped.

"The morning meal is a growth industry," said Bonnie Riggs, restaurant analyst at research firm NPD Group.

Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A added a spicy chicken sandwich to its lunch and dinner menus in June, calling the sandwich its largest new product introduction. Customers immediately asked for a spicy version of Chick-fil-A's biscuit, said Woody Faulk, vice president of brand strategy and design. The spicy biscuit "will give customers another reason to visit Chick-fil-A for breakfast," he said.

Meanwhile, a few Atlanta-area McDonald's are already selling oatmeal with maple brown sugar, apples, raisins and cranberries.

"We're innovating and we're executing and it's giving more people more reasons to choose McDonald's," CEO Jim Skinner said recently. "Our customers continue to give us permission to stretch our brand."