Earlier this year, New York Times food critic Pete Wells was moved to write 841 words about breakfast sandwiches. It was a love letter of sorts, an ooey gooey ode to the most basic form of one of the most basic morning foods. But it was also a complaint: A new restaurant called BEC — short for Bacon Egg and Cheese — was about to open in Manhattan, and he was less than pleased.
Breakfast sandwiches, Wells explained, are nothing if not practical, prepared quickly and eaten on the go, stuffed with modest ingredients and sold at a reasonable price. No matter how nice the cheese or expensive the bacon, he wrote, nothing would ever live up to the original, no-frills sandwich: "the classic and possibly highest formulation: bacon, scrambled eggs and cheese on a roll." And yet here was a trendy new spot, readying itself to sell fancy pants egg sandwiches at four times the normal price. That is, for as much as $11.50.
Wells's angst was the angst of anyone who feels queasy about the upscalification (yes, that's a made-up word) of anything originally made by and for the working class. And it's well founded. The most salient thing about BEC isn't, of course, that it exists, but rather that it's not really an outlier. Much to the chagrin of bacon, egg and cheese purists everywhere, breakfast sandwiches have been moving upscale for quite sometime.
"The growth of the more premium part of the market for breakfast sandwiches is something we've been looking at for a while," said James Russo, who is the senior vice president of global consumer insights at Nielsen, a market research firm. "It's really resonating with wealthier consumers."
Over the past five years, high-end and mid-scale restaurants have become particularly fond of adding new fried egg concoctions to their menus, swapping in bitter greens, spicy aiolis, and hard-to-pronounce cheeses. As a result, more than 63 percent of all fine dining establishments and 66 percent of their mid-level counterparts now offer at least one breakfast sandwich, according to data from market research firm Nielsen. That's almost the same menu penetration that breakfast sandwiches enjoy at fast food restaurants, where it's just shy of 70 percent.
The stratification of breakfast sandwiches is, in some ways, unsurprising. "Chefs have a history of taking everyday foods and elevating them," Russo explained. "It's a natural progression for many things. So the breakfast sandwich can be seen as one of the latest examples of this."
Hamburgers, Russo says, are another food that has undergone a similar transformation. Made popular by affordable fast food chains, like White Castle and McDonald's, the ground beef sandwiches were once a simple, cheap and popular food, and little else. Now they can be had at virtually any upscale restaurant, where they come with custom-made buns, dry-aged beef and a cacophony of toppings, and cost as much as $20 or even $30.
"The same thing has happened with mac and cheese," Russo added. "Think of all the upscale versions being sold today."
Breakfast sandwiches also come from a modest place. They are believed to have originated sometime in the early 19th century in London, where they were made for factory workers who hadn't the time or money to sit down and eat. Once they arrived in the United States, they spread thanks in large part to fast food companies like Jack in the Box and McDonald's, which made them quickly and sold them cheaply.
But the rise of fancy breakfast sandwiches, the significance of it, is arguably different in at least one respect. Sandwiches rose to prominence, in part, because they were affordable. But they also, and perhaps most importantly, became popular because they are easily eaten on the go. In the early days, both in Europe and across the Atlantic in North America, this made them exceedingly popular among construction workers, who needed the food first thing in the day but, quite literally, could not afford to spare the time. Today, the same duality has played an important role in their ascent, too. Many people, no longer having the time to sit down to breakfast, can have their eggs en route to work, while using only a single hand.
"Breakfast sandwiches are at the intersection of a lot of things that people care about right now, things that people want from their food," Russo said. "But I think portability is really the key."
This appeal has been on display in the fast food world, where morning menus have become increasingly important, and breakfast sandwiches have performed especially well. Taco Bell, doubling down on the competitive advantage of a convenient breakfast option, introduced a waffle taco, which, however questionable it was, was easy to eat. McDonald's, at the request of consumers, is now selling theirs all day long.
The role that convenience has played in the rise of breakfast sandwiches rubs up against their gourmet counterparts. Many of the fancier versions, including those sold at BEC, are better eaten with both hands, a seat and a handful of napkins. They're sit-down breakfast sandwiches and run contrary to the very nature of the food. They have created a sort of bizarre form of food inequality.
This same duality, of course, is true of many foods — of hamburgers, for instance. But other sandwiches aren't as much a staple of people's weeks as those eaten at breakfast.
The awkward juxtaposition is particularly acute in a city like New York, where bodegas can be found on almost any block. At these convenience stores, people linger just outside, unwrapping freshly bought $3 egg sandwiches. Meanwhile, next door, or just across the street, others now wipe away stray breakfast sandwich egg yolk with cloth napkins. They're paying more for that bacon, egg and cheese sandwich, and they're taking their time with it, too.
