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McDonald's Wants Franchisees To Open Earlier

The beginning of the breakfast rush--which used to fall between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.--has moved up an hour, in part, because Americans are driving to work earlier, says Don Thompson, president of McDonald's USA. As a result, McDonald's wants all its U.S. restaurants open by 5 a.m., up from 75% today.

McDonald's executives say that breakfast has the most growth potential of any part of the day. To cash in, the company is looking at adding new fruit and grain items, such as oatmeal, to its breakfast menu. Since January, McDonald's has been reorganizing how it positions workers and uses equipment in the morning to make lines move more quickly.

The earlier openings are part of a broader plan to increase average annual sales at McDonald's outlets by $400,000, to an average of about $2.4 million per U.S. location, by 2009.

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