McDonalds to go 24/7?

The newest cover of BusinessWeek features the "Golden Arches", so it intrigued me of course to read on. I can't say that I was surprised by the content. As if we don't all wish our local McDonald's restaurant to be open all the time, every day. Well, there is one in Garner, North Carolina, that is -- and it made an extra $90,000 in revenue last year due to its newly extended hours. Is this the trend of the future for all McDonald's restaurants nationwide -- perhaps globally?

There has always been a need to cater to the 'night owl' crowd as the traditional day in the retail food business usually ends at 9 p.m. or maybe even 1 a.m. But, in the pressure cooker to squeeze profits from every last location, McDonald's Corp. (NYSE:MCD) may be trying its hat on for opening existing restaurants for extended hours instead of just building new locations.

Just like the hundreds of Wal-Mart Supercenters that are open 24 hours, some new McDonald's locations may soon be following that trend -- but will the franchise owners revolt? Probably not, as increasing sales -- which is likely to happen -- means more money in their pockets as well as more back to the mother ship. So, you'll be soon able to feed that face at 4 a.m. after an all-nighter (somewhere) with a nice and juicy (and rather unhealthy) Big Mac.