As part of an effort to boost sales and access post-pandemic consumer trends, McDonald’s said it will add late-night hours to the majority of its US restaurants during the summer of 2025. The initiative, with midnight or later closing times, will address late-night consumers but not be applied to non-traditional units like shopping malls and airports. The move follows the hiring by the company of 375,000 seasonal workers and after a Q1 2025 same-store sales drop of 3.6%—the largest since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Late-night expansion: Scope and operational adjustments
Approximately 70% of McDonald’s restaurants in America will add late hours to the restaurant, staying open late at night until at least midnight for late shoppers. Late hours will not be implemented for airport, shopping center, and other non-traditional sites due to logistics and less traffic in the evening. The geographic targeting will be most helped by areas of high demand, e.g., downtown and suburbs where there is a lively nightlife or shift workers, the most from the longer service.
The expansion unwinds pandemic-era cutbacks, when McDonald’s closed late-night shifts to assist in cushioning financial pressures on franchisees. By reopening late-night shifts, the company would like to recover $180 million of annual sales lost since 2020, according to internal estimates in franchise documents.
Menu restraints and franchise autonomy
The majority of core menu items will be served during late-night shifts, but franchisees will leave out some because of staffing and supply chain limitations. Customer favorites like the Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, and McCrispy Strips cannot be cut, but slow-period offerings like the Double Filet-O-Fish and seasonal items can be cut in order to simplify late-night operations. This is flexibility that mirrors customer needs in the area of operating conditions because 24-hour food ingredient preparation and small numbers of kitchen personnel make full-menu support impractical.
McDonald’s also has a crew tiering program late at night, with smaller crews working drive-thru and mobile orders to remain productive. Franchisees place late-night labor at approximately 18–22% of late-night sales, not a bad return for the higher-margin drink and dessert sales they book later in the day.
Strategic drivers: Shaping sales dips and competitiveness issues
Reintroduction of the summer hour is squarely aimed at McDonald’s 3.6% Q1 2025 same-store sales decline, which management are placing at the feet of softer late-night traffic and inflation-thinned customers. By restoring dining room hours to midnight, it is expected to increase transaction volumes by 8–12% in take-part restaurants, consistent with in-house goals.
This action aligns with all-out industry moves, with competitors like Taco Bell and Wendy’s similarly doing so to regain pandemic-acquired market share. McDonald’s move also ignores recent competitor shutdowns like Noodles & Company (21 units) and Darden Restaurants (18 restaurants), using its scale to steal demand from shutdown competitors.
Marketing blitz and seasonal hiring surge
To build buzz before its launch, McDonald’s introduced a $50 million marketing campaign involving limited-time offers such as free McCrispy Strips on its app. Radio ads, geo-location-targeted social media promotions, and ride-sharing deals will emphasize convenience for evening workers and late-night staff.
Supplemented by 375,000 seasonal workers—McDonald’s largest seasonal crew since 2019—late-night hours will be maintained, with average starting pay of $15–$18/hour depending on local markets. Speed-of-service training targets reducing drive-thru time by 20% late nights.
Challenges and long-term implications
Despite these measures, though, there remain operational issues. Seasonal staple inventory lead times in fries and coffee have led 12% of the franchisees to pre-load ahead of time, perhaps to be wasted if orders are not as high as hoped. Labor activists also criticize the company for hiring part-time workers without medical benefits, a complaint fueled by recent AFL-CIO report on fast-food labor practices.
Industry observers believe McDonald’s late afternoon bid for supremacy can set industry benchmarks as 65% of QSR brands seemingly are observing the move for imitators. Successful, the move can serve as a catalyst for automation investments, such as AI-powered kitchen solutions tested at 400+ restaurants, to stay profitable after season peaks.
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