When do they start serving lunch at mcdonalds

What Time Does McDonald’s Start Serving Lunch? (Plus Menu Hacks to Save Money)

Sure, Egg McMuffins are great, but sometimes you crave a juicy Big Mac or Quarter Pounder mid-morning or want to order something off their secret menu. But will McDonald’s actually serve you a burger or French fries before lunch? This begs the question, what time does McDonald’s serve lunch? So I went out and discovered everything you need to know. Plus I threw in a few money saving hacks to get the most bang for your lunch money at McDonald’s.

10:30 a.m.

McDonald’s doesn’t have the griddle space for eggs, sausage, hash browns, AND burgers…so lunch doesn’t start until 10:30 on weekday mornings.

Is the 10:30 a.m. Start Time the Same on Weekends?

No.

McDonald’s starts serving lunch on Saturday and Sunday a little bit later at 11 am.

The reason for this delay is because they get a pretty sizable breakfast crowd on the weekend, and it takes them a little longer to transition the “kitchen” over to lunch.

See Also: 7 Smart McDonald’s Menu Hacks That’ll Save You Cash

What’s the Latest I Can Score an Egg McMuffin?

Between 10:45 and 11 am.

It might not be hot off the griddle, but you can usually order at 10:45ish and still get breakfast items that have been made, but not yet sold.

Does McDonald’s Serve Fries in the Morning?

No.

If you’re like me, you’d TOTALLY prefer McDonald’s French fries over their hash browns, but unfortunately you’ll have to wait until at least 10:30 a.m. to get your hands on some.

Does a “24 Hour” McDonald’s Serve Lunch Earlier?

Typically no.

But some independently owned McDonald’s, that stay open 24 hours, could start serving some lunch items as early as 9 am.

What Time Does the “Lunch” Menu End?

The lunch menu at Mickey D’s will stay open until they lock the doors, which is typically at 10 or 11 pm depending on the location.

See Also: Does McDonald’s Serve Breakfast All Day? I Got Answers

Give Me a Few Lunch “Menu Hacks”…

So once you finally make it to McDonald’s for lunch, use these 3 clever hacks to get more food for your money.

1 – Order a McDouble and ask for it “Like a Mac” – You’ll basically get a BigMac without the center bread and spend about a third less money.

2 – Always order McNuggets in groups of 4 – If you want 20 nuggets, order 5 separate containers of 4.

You’ll typically pay way less than if you ponied up for a box 20.

3 – Over 55 and would love a cup of coffee with lunch? – Just dine-in and ask for your free cup of coffee.

Not all Mickey D’s participate, but definitely worth a shot.

See Also: I Taste Test the McDonald’s Dollar Menu and Survived

Ask the Reader: Do you ever crave a McDonald’s burger before lunch? How do you get your fix?

Photo credit to Mike Mozart.

Ksana Durand/Shutterstock

If you're counting down the hours in the morning because you have a hankering for a McChicken instead of a chicken biscuit from McDonald's, the accuracy of your countdown depends on knowing exactly when you can roll through that drive-thru and put in your lunch order. It turns out, though, there is some localized deviation in exactly what time that turns out to be.

Almost all McDonald's locations are franchises and not owned by the corporation. While McDonald's maintains a lot of uniform standards for franchisees like these weird rules for workers, it also allows franchise owners some freedom in things like small deviations in their hours. For example, Reader's Digest shares that each franchisee gets to decide for themselves whether to be open 24 hours a day.

It seems McDonald's has landed on a kind of "golden hour" for starting to serve the lunch menu, though. Within a small range, it's pretty standard across the United States.

The Big Macs start rolling out around this time

KULLAPONG PARCHERAT/Shutterstock

USA Today looked into the question of when McDonald's starts serving lunch across the United States and landed on a mostly firm answer. At most U.S. locations, it's between 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. local time. USA Today also discovered that at some locations, the hour can vary between weekdays and weekends, with a later start on weekends.

That's also the time that most U.S. McDonald's restaurants will stop serving their breakfast menus. Although many McDonald's restaurants in the U.S. participated in an all-day breakfast push at one time, the corporation decided to suspend that practice to streamline its operations in 2020 (per Inc.). If you're holding out hope that this suspension might end, you shouldn't expect that to happen soon.

So if lunch starts around 10:30-11 a.m., ending breakfast, when does McDonald's switch back over to offering the McMuffins and hash browns? Again, there is going to be some localized variance, but, the general consensus seems to be around 5 a.m. Both Foods Alternative and Parade list that as when the McGriddles hit the griddle.

The absolute best way to know the times for each menu at a particular location is to check in at that specific restaurant. The McDonald's app can be your best guide. By and large, though, if you get in line around 11 a.m., you should be able to satisfy a Big Mac craving.