STUDIO CITY, Calif. – Consumers have embraced breakfast in a big way lately, putting the morning meal front and center. Now a new trend is gaining ground: breakfast bowls, Nation’s Restaurant News reports. “People are eating healthier,” said Robert Maynard, owner of Famous Toastery chain. “Food is just simply going in that direction and if you don’t follow along, you’ll be left behind.”

Datassential research finds that breakfast bowls are now on 7% of U.S. breakfast menus, a 66% bump since 2012. Famous Toastery offers build-your-own quinoa bowls, while Sharky’s Woodfire Mexican Grill has an Organic Breakfast Bowl. “Bowls offer an awful lot of flexibility. It’s almost like a blank canvas. It moves where you want to move,” said Steve Paperno, Sharky’s founder and CEO.

Even McDonald’s, which has been going after the breakfast crowd with its all day breakfast menu and testing breakfast Happy Meals, has been piloting two breakfast bowls at a few California restaurants. “The idea of ‘healthy’ is changing,” said Alexis Schulze, a co-founder of Nekter, which serves açaí bowls. “We believe people are looking for cleaner, fresh alternatives, and the numbers seem to support that belief. Our guests enjoy our bowls because they’re more substantial than a juice or smoothie.”

Famous Toastery sees breakfast bowls as transcending the morning daypart more easily than other breakfast foods. “Not many people order a burger at 7 am, but you will find someone getting a quinoa bowl at 7 am and at 3 o’clock in the afternoon,” Maynard said.

For more on breakfast and convenience stores, read “The Most Important Meal All Day” in NACS Magazine.