CHICAGO – As most college students know, downing cold pizza for breakfast is an old standby. But nowadays, breakfast pies come piping hot with eggs and other breakfast fixings, Nation’s Restaurant News reports.

In 2009, Technomic’s MenuMonitor didn’t see any breakfast pizzas on menus. Fast-forward a year and a dozen morning pies have appeared on breakfast menus.

One of those adding breakfast pizza is an Iowa chain called Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor. “We deliver it [breakfast pizza] to a lot of businesses in the morning,” said Kristel Whitty-Ersan, marketing director.

The chain’s omelet pizza contains cheese, veggies and eggs, but no tomato sauce. Other breakfast pizzas include an all-meat, a vegetarian, a Denver and a Western. “It’s a little bit of a challenge getting your guests to think of you for breakfast,” said Whitty-Ersan. “It definitely takes time and money. But it’s a lot of fun to add a daypart.”

Last fall, Domino’s Pizza’s only 24-hour location debuted breakfast pizza. “It’s doing very well,” said assistant manager Steve Martin. “The word’s getting out there and we’re getting a lot of customers coming back and ordering more.”

Leona’s Neighborhood Restaurants offers 12 individual-sized breakfast pizzas, such as the Wise Guy, the Popeye and the Queen Mary. At Pulino’s Bar & Pizzeria, breakfast pizzas take up an entire section of the menu, with Nutella, roasted fruit with cinnamon and pecorino cheese, and eggs, bacon and sausage as popular choices.