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On a recent morning, the McDonald’s in the shadow of Boston’s Fenway Park was shy on regular customers. A construction worker named Curt emerged with an Egg McMuffin: “I’d rather go to a diner than eat this garbage,” he said. “But in the allotted amount of time I have, this is what works.”

At an earnings call on Wednesday, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said that the chain has seen visits from lower-income customers fall by double-digits during the second quarter, with the chain’s 50-year-old breakfast menu particularly hard hit. He said the meal “is the easiest daypart for a stressed consumer to either skip breakfast or choose to eat breakfast at home … we as w

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