Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

McDonald’s is taking on Starbucks with its latest spinoff restaurant – a coffee shop

McDonald's new restaurant also has a silly name

By
Cos Mcs McDonalds
McDonald's

McDonald’s is entering a new game with the opening of their newest spinoff restaurant, CosMc’s, which opened on December 7th in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Unlike your typical fast food you’d expect from a McDonald’s-inspired menu, CosMc’s is intended to be more like a Starbucks, with a coffee-shop-inspired menu with exciting food and beverage options. This Starbucks rival is McDonald’s attempt to enter the specialty coffee chain industry without overwhelming its existing menu. After all, if you want a handcrafted coffee beverage, chances are McDonald’s isn’t the first place that comes to mind. But Starbucks might be.

The opening of CosMc’s

While the first CosMc’s location was opened in Illinois as a test for the company, McDonald’s has already announced its plans to open an additional nine locations by the end of 2024 in Texas. Interestingly enough, the name of CosMc’s is inspired by advertisements that aired in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which featured robot characters named CosMc. To go along with the robot and space vibe, the interior of each CosMc’s restaurant is designed with a futuristic space theme –which is a bit different from other coffee chains that are not themed, such as Starbucks or Dunkin’.

Recommended Videos

Is the menu comparable to Starbucks?

Since the first location of CosMc’s opened, patrons have quickly learned what to expect on the menu from this newest addition to the McDonald’s universe. Like Starbucks, the menu includes handcrafted and customizable beverages in both coffee and non-coffee varieties. The general beverage categories are quite similar to Starbucks, including frappés, iced tea drinks, lemonades, brews, and more. The customizable aspects of these drinks, which include syrups, flavor shots, and more, seem on par with consumer demands to personalize all aspects of orders.

Related

Unlike Starbucks, however, it appears CosMc’s menu is slightly less coffee-heavy and more focused on fruity, refreshing beverages. Some examples of non-coffee menu items include the Blueberry Ginger Boost or the Island Pick-Me-Up Punch. If you do love coffee, there are still plenty of options to be had (both hot and iced), such as a classic Cappuccino or a more unique Churro Cold Brew Frappé.

Pouring cream in cold brew coffee
Magda Patsogianni / Pixabay

What this means for specialty drink lovers

If these coffee shops do well, CosMc’s could soon become a well-known name across the U.S. From unique blended coffee drinks like the S’mores Cold Brew to non-coffee drinks like the Sour Cherry Energy Burst — soon enough, we could all have another option of places to add to the list to get delicious specialty drinks.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Emily Caldwell
Emily Caldwell
Contributor
Emily is an accomplished freelance journalist with over seven years of experience in food, beverage, health, fitness, and…
Salt in coffee? Here’s why you should give it a try
Cut the bitterness of your brew with this simple trick
Small coffee cup and saucer

Love or hate them, there always seems to be a new coffee trend. At the risk of sounding ancient, people took their coffee either black or with some mixture of cream and/or sugar before Starbucks came along. That was it. There were no Fraps or triple whip extra shots, a drizzle of confusing concoctions. There was coffee. Its sole purpose was to wake you up in the morning, not to act as a prop in Instagram selfies with stupid captions like, "coffee is my love language."
Now, there seems to be a movement to get back to the basics, and some people are embracing simpler pleasures—pleasures like deliciously rich, home-brewed coffee that has no idea what a Hibiscus Refresher is.
With that said, sometimes, coffee trends are beneficial. A piece of information comes along that doesn't necessarily fall into the "trend" category but is a new way to enjoy a classic—something that actually improves coffee and doesn't just slap some glitter on a fancy cup. In this case, that new piece of information comes in the form of an ingredient so ordinary that one could hardly call it trendy. The new, hip trend? Adding salt in coffee.

What does salt in coffee do?

Read more
Learn how to grind coffee beans without a grinder — it’s not as hard as you think
Yes, it's possible to do
A warm cup of coffee and spoon on a saucer with coffee beans

Arguably the most socially acceptable, delicious drug on the market, coffee is an absolute necessity to start the day for most of us: the exhausted parent, the tense and hurried workaholic, the college student cranky from the latest all-nighter. And while we all love the convenience of our K-cups and the Starbucks drive-thru, something must be said for a beautifully brewed, freshly ground, homemade cup of coffee.

When done properly, the morning ritual involves every sense: dipping your hand delicately into the cool, smooth beans, letting them slip through your fingers, to the whir of the grinder, pulsing, and singing. The aroma of the fresh brew filling the air is intoxicating. And that first taste is hitting your lips, kissing you good morning with its dark mischief. The whole experience borders on sensual.

Read more
Latte vs coffee: Making sense of coffee shop menus
Understanding coffee shop orders isn't that hard
Latte

For newbie coffee drinkers, the world of coffee and the never-ending coffee terms used by regular drinkers can seem like a different language. Just head to a local coffee shop and listen to the plethora of different orders -- lattes, drip coffee, iced lattes. Just like learning a new language, starting by learning the basics of coffee shop lingo is a great place to start. Regular coffee and lattes are two common orders, each with unique distinctions. In this guide, we'll break down a latte vs. coffee order, exploring both their similarities and differences. Plus, we'll guide you in determining which order is best for you based on your coffee preferences.
What is a latte?

A latte is a coffee drink that is made from steamed milk, espresso, and a thin layer of milk foam. This iconic coffee drink is enjoyed around the world in both hot latte and iced latte forms. Requiring only two ingredients to make it perfect, the latte is simplistic and classic. Today's coffee shops offer tons of variations of the latte, but all you need to know about the latte is it's creamy and delicious. Unlike other espresso drinks that contain a higher ratio of espresso to milk, a latte typically contains one part espresso to three parts steamed milk. Making a latte at home requires that you have freshly brewed espresso (and an espresso maker), along with tools to steam milk.
What is regular coffee?

Read more