Shake Shack May Be About to Steal a Page From the Greatest Fast Food Joints in History

Shake Shack could be rolling out a national breakfast menu.
By Brian Sozzi ,

Selling bacon and eggs for breakfast has worked wonders for fast-food titans McDonald's (MCD) - Get Report and Taco Bell.

Shake Shack (SHAK) - Get Report may have finally gotten the memo. The growing burger and shake chain will bring its breakfast menu -- which consists of a standard egg and cheese on a potato roll or ones with bacon and sausage -- to its first non-airport/train station location when the doors swing open Friday at New York City's Fulton Center. The Fulton Center is a major transportation hub just a few steps from Wall Street that connects several of city's busiest train lines. To make breakfast work operationally at the glass enclosed second floor restaurant, Shake Shack's employees will arrive early to be prepared for the 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. breakfast rush, the restaurant's general manager told TheStreet (see video below). 

The company -- which historically has carefully tested items such as its new crispy chicken sandwich before debuting them at more locations -- has been patient with breakfast, too. Shake Shack first debuted its breakfast menu at JFK airport in 2013. Prior to Fulton Center, the only domestic locations to serve breakfast were JFK, Grand Central Station and Union Station (in Washington, DC). It's also available internationally at Dubai International Airport. But, if past is precedent, Shake Shack's snazzy-looking new Fulton Center location could be the testing grounds for a broader roll-out of breakfast sometime next year. 

Doing so would sure make sense, judging by the success of fellow fast food joints. 

Launched on Oct. 6 last year, McDonald's all-day breakfast has drawn in customers who were no longer visiting the Golden Arches. McDonald's first-quarter same-store sales in the U.S. surged 5.4%, trouncing most others in the fast-fast food game. Breakfast now represents over 25% of McDonald's U.S. business. Meanwhile, Yum! Brands (YUM) - Get Report owned Taco Bell launched its breakfast menu nationally on Mar. 27 of 2014 with the Waffle Taco and easy-to-hold A.M. Crunchwrap. That menu, available from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., has since expanded to 11 items. Taco Bell's sales subsequently increased for nine straight quarters, until they declined slightly in the second quarter of this year amid intensified competition.

If Shake Shack execs could signal to Wall Street that a traffic-driving national breakfast launch is looming, it potentially could reawaken the chain's beaten up stock. Shares of Shake Shack have fallen about 23% over the past year compared to a 1.8% gain for the S&P 500 as Wall Street has feared the company is overvalued. Ringing up breakfast sandwich and cold brew coffee orders at 7 a.m. across the country would likely go a long way to dispel the overvaluation fears on the Shack. 

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