McDonald's Opens First CosMc's Location, and the Menu Is Wild

Only true McDonald's fans know where the name came from.

During a late summer earnings call with investors, McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said that the fast-food giant was preparing to launch a spin-off restaurant named for the most minor of minor characters from the McDonaldland universe. Kempczinski described CosMc's — which shares its name with a mid-'80s alien-robot hybrid that we'd all completely forgotten about — as a "small-format concept with all the DNA of McDonald's."

Neither he nor a McDonald's spokesperson spilled any more McTea about the new concept, other than to say that it would be tested in early 2024.

Fast-forward a few months, and it looks like CosMc's has landed ahead of schedule. The first CosMc's location in Bolingbrook, Illinois, quietly served its first customers on Thursday, and re-opened for its regular schedule of 6 a.m. through 8 p.m. on Friday, according to NBC Chicago. (That's not to say that the word wasn't already out about the new restaurant: one curious CosMc's customer said that he waited three hours for a frappe.)

“CosMc’s seamlessly blends brand-new, otherworldly beverage creations with a small lineup of food, including a select few McDonald’s favorites – all designed to boost your mood into the stratosphere, if only for a few moments,” McDonald’s said of its newest restaurant. We still prefer Kempczinski’s description though: on a recent call with investors, he described it as what would happen if  “a McDonald’s character from the 1980s that was part alien, part surfer, part robot [...]  were to open a restaurant in 2023.” Thanks, Chris, that explains everything!

Related: McDonald's Is Giving Customers Free Fries for the Rest of 2023, Here's How to Get Them

Surprisingly, the CosMc’s menu is a little bit McDonald’s and … a little bit Starbucks. There are a lot of new-to-McDonald’s specialty teas, lemonades, slushes, and frappes with names like Sour Cherry Energy Burst, Berry Hibiscus Sour-ade, and Island Pick-Me-Up Punch. Coffee lovers can try new drinks like a Turmeric Spiced Latte, Chai Tea Latte, or a S’mores Cold Brew. Each beverage can also be further customized with different flavor syrups, energy or vitamin shots, and popping boba beads.

As for the food, there are two new savory sandwiches: the Spicy Queso Sandwich, which fills a brioche bun with an omelet-style egg, sausage, white cheddar cheese, spicy cheddar, spicy queso sauce, and jalapeno chips, and the Creamy Avocado Tomatillo Sandwich that’s a combo of an omelet-style egg, applewood bacon, white cheddar cheese and avocado-tomatillo sauce on a brioche bun. CosMc’s also serves a handful of McDonald’s standards, including Egg McMuffins, Bacon McMuffins, Sausage McMuffins, and two different McFlurrys.

McDonald’s says it plans to open “approximately 10” more CosMc’s locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio, Texas markets by the end of 2024. “The big story isn’t about CosMc’s, per se,” Kempczinski said about the spinoff’s debut. “The big story is what it says about McDonald’s and our potential. To think, a little over a year ago, this was an idea, and this week we’re opening the first test site.”

Not only that, but think about what that says about a McDonald’s character from the 1980s that was part alien, part surfer, part robot. Incredible … just incredible. 

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