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Breakfast Appetites Feed Restaurant Profits

U.S. restaurants' breakfast sales have been rising, while lunch and dinner counts have fallen, according to a recent report. So eateries are battling it out in the morning, especially over the item Americans are increasingly fond of -- the breakfast sandwich.

Brunch Nation: Why It's the Hottest Meal of the Year

The recession has turned us into a people who brunch. It makes sense that in hard times, a restaurant outing that combines two meals into one would become as hot as jalapeno-cheddar frittata. Brunch traffic rose in 2009 while traffic for all other meals was down.