For adults, happy hour has a rather boozy connotation, and usually this refers to the early evening hour at a bar featuring certain discounted drinks. But every now and then there’s also a happy hour for certain fast food restaurants. These are times when certain food items and beverages are offered at a discount during the slow hours of the afternoon to increase customers. And sometimes it’s also a handy way to sell food items that may spoil soon if not consumed immediately.
We now take a look at certain happy hour specials, but understand that these may be limited or seasonal promos. In some cases, these happy hour promos are only available in certain (and not all) locations.
Buffalo Wild Wings
This is a complicated mess of a happy hour system, as the details can get really intricate and confusing. It’s as if it’s meant for you not to remember what the particular discounts are, and all you need to know is that most, if not all, days you may enjoy discounts on certain food items and beverages. BWW also tends to have two different happy hour periods each day, with the first one starting from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and another one from 10 p.m. to midnight.
Each day has different rules, so ask the server what kind of happy hour benefits you can get from a particular location. For example, if you come in on a Monday right after 3 p.m., you can get starters like the cheeseburger slammers and fries, the roasted garlic mushrooms, or the Caesar side salad for a mere $3. From 10 p.m. to midnight, you may enjoy a cheeseburger, chicken, or pulled pork sandwich for just $5.
On a Thursday, it’s possible to get boneless wings for just 65¢, except this is all day long. In the afternoon happy hour, margaritas are $3.50 each and there’s a dollar discount for all domestic brewed beers.
McDonald’s
Again, this is a misnomer nowadays, because of recent changes to McDonald’s policy. Until now, many patrons regarded the breakfast hours as the happy hour for this place, since this period was the only time you can get your favorite breakfast fare here. 
For years people have clamored to make the breakfast fare available at all hours of the day, but McDonald’s were not at all accommodating because the top honchos believed that the change would be too expensive when done for all locations.
But in recent years McDonald’s sales have been dipping, so the people at the top decided to roll the dice and invest in the whole-day breakfast concept. Obviously, with such a large demand it really boosted profits for the fast food giant and they just posted their largest quarterly gains for the last few years.
So essentially, at McDonald’s it’s not that there aren’t any happy hours. It’s just that as of today, every hour is McDonald’s happy hour!
Starbucks
In some outlets, the happy hour runs from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., but that’s only on Mondays. Maybe they thought that since it’s the worst day of the week, their patrons deserve a break. During this happy hour, Starbucks members get 30¢ off for every dollar spent on the rewards program.
Sonic
For participating locations, the happy hour discounts only apply for certain days (usually from Mondays to Wednesdays). In the afternoon it runs from 2pm to 4pm, during which you only need to spend 99¢ on onion rings, corn dogs, and mozzarella sticks. Drinks, slushes, and tea beverages are available with a 50% discount. Then during the late night happy hour after 8 p.m., you get 50% off when you buy shakes.
Olive Garden
This family-friendly Italian restaurant chain doesn’t do as much business in the afternoon, as most of the time people come in for either lunch or dinner. But that may change with their weekday happy hour from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. During that time small plates cost $4 and some of the special drinks are offered at half prices.
So that’s a quick look at the fast food happy hour landscape right now. But do ask around for any promo in your area, so you’ll know when you can get discount when you’re looking for a snack!
