The space-themed chain opened its first location on Friday in Illinois.
Last week, McDonald’s unveiled their new drive-thru-only spinoff chain – CosMc’s – which focuses on selling beverages and a limited breakfast menu.
The first of 10 pilot locations, the fast food super-giant plans to analyze its success and expand around the US’s Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio areas by the end of 2024.
CosMc’s is based on the McDonald-land mascot of the same name. The character is an alien who feeds on McDonald’s and was in advertisements for the chain in the late 80s and early 90s.
The focus on its mascots comes after the Grimace Shake trend went viral earlier this year and helped McDonald’s sell its drink of the same name.
CosMc’s menu was described by McDonald’s as being “inspired by nostalgia” with “otherwordly beverage creations.”
The menu includes drinks like the S’mores Cold Brew, Sour Cherry Energy Burst and Tropical Spiceade. They also offer drink customizations like popping boba, flavor syrups and Vitamin C shots.
Food choices include a Creamy Avocado Tomatillo Sandwich and Spicy Queso Sandwich. Of course, CosMc’s offers a few iconic options, too, like Egg McMuffins and McFlurrys.
As with most beverage chains, CosMc offers some small snacks. Options include Pretzel Bites and Savory Hash Brown Bites.
First impressions
Tanya Michael from London traveled to the Illinois location to review CosMc’s.
“I found out about this place, literally just booked my flight straight away,” she told ABC7.
Reviewing some of the day-one drinks, she gave the Island Pick-Me-Up Punch an 8/10 and described the Churro Frappé as “unreal” before giving it a 10/10.
“It’s exciting!” another customer, Josefina Toledo, told ABC7. “It looks really good!”
CosMc’s was announced last week as part of McDonald’s Investor Day. Chris Kempczinski, the company’s CEO, told investors that the spinoff chain is their introduction to the “$100 billion category” dominated by Starbucks.
McDonald’s also announced their plans to open 10,000 new fast-food locations by 2027, marking 50,000 global locations.
