McDonald’s Corporation (MCD) used a CosMc’s spinoff test as a rapid‑testing lab to modernize its beverage strategy and reposition McCafé as the core engine of future drink growth.
CosMc’s, which was McDonald’s (MCD) first investment in a new restaurant concept in the U.S. since Chipotle (CMG), was named after a McDonaldland space alien character who appeared in ads in the 1980s. Launched in late 2023, the small‑format, beverage‑led concept is built around highly customizable, flavor‑forward cold drinks and a limited snack menu. Its lineup emphasized fruity refreshers, crafted sodas, cold coffee drinks, and energy‑style beverages enhanced with add‑ins like flavor syrups, vitamin boosts, and popping boba, targeting the fast‑growing “treat” and energy drink occasions rather than traditional meal pairings.
The CosMC’s test allowed the fast-food chain to experiment with compact footprints and drive‑through/digital‑heavy service optimized for beverage‑only and afternoon traffic. Notably, McDonald’s (MCD) used the sandbox to test new equipment, customization flows, and throughput without disrupting the core restaurant base. After running a small cluster of test units, McDonald’s decided in 2025 to close all CosMc’s locations and shift the focus to importing its most successful ideas into existing restaurants.
During McDonald’s earnings conference call earlier in February, management highlighted the success of the CosMc’s test and how it plans to expand the McCafé lineup in 2026.
“So we are — obviously, we’re really excited about the beverage launch in the U.S. later this year, and we are going to do it under the McCafe brand. So we obviously learned a lot through the CosMc’s test, and those learnings have been applied to how we’ve decided to set up this new beverage range, but we are going to be launching under the McCafé brand. And just to give you a little bit more color. The results did exceed expectations for the entirety of the program. It did drive incremental occasions. These were mostly snack, dinner and evening. And we also saw higher average check. So the financials are really playing out well.
We learned a lot about the recipes. We offered a range of recipes across indulgent coffees, refreshers, energy and soda — crafted sodas. All did well, particularly the crafted sodas, refreshers and energy.”
McCafé was originally launched by McDonald’s in Melbourne in 1993 as a café‑style extension of McDonald’s (MCD). Over the 2000s and 2010s, it expanded from core espresso and brewed coffee into iced coffees, blended frappés, smoothies, and seasonal limited‑time offers, positioning McDonald’s (MCD) closer to coffeehouse competitors while leveraging its value and drive‑through advantages. With beverages now elevated alongside hamburgers and a popular kids’ menu as part of its core strategic pillar, the chain could have a stronger platform to compete more directly with Starbucks (SBUX) and Dunkin’ in cold and specialty coffee, as well as with Dutch Bros (BROS) and regional coffee chains, particularly in the afternoon daypart with the anticipated inclusion of Red Bull beverages.