Buffets are a time-honored tradition in many contexts — brunch, dinner, or even a candy buffet. Each one taps into that second-nature notion where you fill a plate, sit down to enjoy, and do it all over again if you have the room to do so. There was even a time in Thailand when buffet enthusiasts broke the world record for the largest buffet line, one of the many fascinating facts you should know about buffets. You’ll even find some at fast food restaurants, though it’s not as common as it used to be. In fact, if you remember dining at a McDonald’s breakfast buffet back in the day, you’re not making it up.
Although you won’t find any buffets at today’s McDonald’s locations, the concept did exist. However, it’s something of a Mandela effect. A standard internet search for the once-beloved buffet won’t yield much information, almost as if it has been wiped from the history books. However, back in 2020, Eater reported all that we know about fast food buffets, seemingly confirming that the McDonald’s breakfast buffets were real, and some customers vividly remember them.
McDonald’s sleuths have taken to the internet to uncover the truth
Back in 2016, McDonald’s released a timeline of its breakfast journey throughout the years, beginning with Jim Delligatti selling donuts and sweet rolls in 1970. However, not once on that timeline does McDonald’s mention the breakfast buffets that customers vividly remember during the 1990s and early 2000s. More recent searches regarding the famed McDonald’s breakfast only populate results concerning the never-ending question of whether the all-day breakfast will return or which McDonald’s breakfast item is the best, with not a single official mention (or even photographs) of the old breakfast buffets in sight. It’s this lack of evidence that makes customers feel as if their hazy memories of all-you-can-eat hotcakes are nothing more than a collective hallucination.
Despite the lack of proof, communities on social media have banded together to prove that the McDonald’s breakfast buffets did exist, if only for a time. On one Reddit thread, one user remembered visiting the McDonald’s breakfast buffets on the weekend after church, “because it was cheap food for a family.” Another Reddit thread featured a comment from an alleged former McDonald’s employee who noted that, somewhere between 1993 and 1995, “there was definitely a breakfast buffet on weekend mornings for a short time.” The next time you mention the old McDonald’s breakfast buffet, you might get some funny looks, but you can rest assured that it wasn’t just a figment of your imagination.
