McDonald’s to face off Starbucks with CosMc’s
By BBC, December 8, 2023McDonald’s has announced the details of its new retro-style restaurant idea, CosMc’s, which would operate in the same market segment as Starbucks.
Its pilot, focusing on hot and cold speciality drinks, will open this month near Chicago, and it aims to be in 10 locations by the end of 2024. Meanwhile, the fast food giant plans to open about 10,000 McDonald’s sites globally by 2027, with many in China.
The expansion would boost the number of its stores to about 50,000. The first CosMc’s is due to open in Bolingbrook, Illinois, later this week, with about 10 more to open in Texas next year. It will serve a menu that seems to be squarely aimed at people with a very sweet tooth, selling items such as Churro Frappe – churros are a kind of Spanish doughnut – and S’Mores Cold Brew – s’mores are biscuits, chocolate and marshmallows.
Snack chain
There will also be a small number of McDonald’s staple food items on the menu such as Egg McMuffins. It already has a coffee and snack chain called McCafe, which only serves coffee and sweets, cakes or pastries.
The name for the new brand comes from a McDonaldland mascot, an alien from outer space that craves its food, which appeared in adverts in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Its new venture CosMc’s promises customers the chance to make “otherworldly” drink creations, customising their beverages with popping boba bubbles, or flavoured syrups.
As the cost of living crisis hit, consumers often bought cheaper fast-food options such as McDonald’s as a treat instead. At the same time, legions of social media users on apps like TikTok have jumped on the trend of posting their own unique drink combinations created at coffee shops using different creams, sprinkles syrups and more.