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McDonald's is planning to add beverages from its drink focused spinoff restaurant CosMc's to its regular menu.
McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said the company gained "interesting leanings" from its rollout of the concept restaurant in Illinois in late 2023 and the company plans to work with individual franchisees to test some of CosMc's exclusive beverages on standard menus.
“It’s part of why we set up beverages as one of our key three category structures — just because of the opportunity that we saw there,” Kempczinski said, though not sharing additional details on the menu expansion beyond McDonald's being "committed to going after beverages."
McDonald's didn't specify which beverages would be included, but the popular Instagram food account @snackbetch speculated that Sprite Moonsplash, Popping Pear Slush, Tropical Spiceade, Blueberry Ginger Boost, Iced Churro Latte, Iced French Toast Galaxy Latte, Churro Cold Brew Frappe and Chai Frappe Burst would be among the options considered.
"This is an exciting step toward bringing more drink variety to McDonald’s menus nationwide," the account wrote.
CosMc's launched as a drive-thru only location in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, Illinois, on December 7, 2023, before announcing nine additional locations in Texas in 2024. The spinoff offers McCafe products, as well as exclusive drinks and food options and gets its name from the McDonaldland character CosMc, who appeared in advertisements from 1986 to 1992.