How did The Bissell Breakfast get its name?

The Bissell Breakfast, Metro Diner’s version of a traditional breakfast spread, is continually neck-and-neck with Fried Chicken & Waffles as the most ordered dish on the menu! This popular breakfast-all day includes two eggs cooked to order, breakfast meat of your choosing, toast, hashbrowns or grits, and a short stack of pancakes. But Bissell Breakfast? Why “Bissell”?

Meet the popular breakfast’s namesake

Celebrating neighborly friendships

The Bissell Breakfast was not always referred to as such. In fact, this dish was originally a Blackboard Special called “Murry’s Breakfast,” after an original Metro Diner regular.

Enter: David Bissell. Dave, who owned the insurance company Bissell & Associates Insurance, is a great friend of Metro’s founder, Mark Davoli. Until recently, Dave’s office was located just across the street from the original Metro Diner, so naturally, he was a loyal Metro Diner regular and would often advertise Bissell & Associates on the placemats. After years of coming in every morning and ordering “Murry’s Breakfast,” Dave joked with Mark that he had never seen this *mystical* “Murry.” Turns out, Murry had moved away a few years prior and Mark hadn’t given any thought to changing the name.

Google street view Metro Diner and Bissell Insurance

The next morning when Dave came in, the Blackboard Special had been updated to “Dave’s Breakfast.”

The Bissell’s official debut

A rename and permanent Breakfast Favorite

As Metro Diner grew, a second location opened just 15 minutes away, and of course, Dave was there to celebrate. During his visit, he noticed the ads on the placemats were different from those at the Hendricks location—and, more importantly, another insurance company was featured at this location! Mark explained that he didn’t want Dave to feel obligated to pay for the extra ad, but Dave assured him he would’ve spend the money without hesitation.

Feeling bad about the mix-up, Mark knew just how to make it up to his friend: he added the “Bissell Breakfast” to the official menu under the Breakfast Favorites, and it’s been a mainstay ever since! According to Dave, in his 30+ years of advertising his business, he’d never received more calls than after his name appeared on the Metro Diner menu!

Metro Diner’s most customizable dish

Breakfast your way, all day

When you order this dish, prepare to answer a few questions from your server: How would you like your eggs cooked? What breakfast meat would you like? Hashbrowns or Grits? What kind of toast?

The result: The perfect breakfast platter made just for you. But it got us thinking….“How Many Bissell Breakfast Combinations Are There?!” We did some number crunching and, it turns out there are a lot. Over 900 combinations, in fact!

$math meme bissell breakfast combo calculations$