McDonald’s has announced the details of its new restaurant idea, CosMc’s, which would operate in the same market segment as Starbucks.
Its pilot will open this month in a part of Chicago, with a plan to be in about 10 locations by the end of 2024. Meanwhile, the fast-food giant also plans to open about 10,000 McDonald’s restaurants globally by 2027, with many of those in China.
The expansion would boost the number of 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 in 2024.
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.
There will also be a cut-down list of McDonald’s staples on the menu such as Egg McMuffins. It already has a coffee and snack chain called McCafe, which only serves coffee and sweets.
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.
As the cost of living crisis hit, consumers often bought cheaper fast-food options such as McDonald’s, which has remained largely unaffected by choppy consumer spending.
The fast-food giant also revealed plans for what could be its fastest ever period of growth, it said.
The latest expansion includes 900 new restaurants in the US, 1,900 in international markets where it operates its own restaurants, and 7,000 in its international licensed markets.
More than half of the 7,000 additions will be in China, which is the chain’s second-largest market.
It recently struck a deal to have greater control over its business in the region.
The firm’s chief executive, Chris Kempczinski, has said China could eventually become McDonald’s largest market.
But the company also said it was seeing an impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Mr Kempczinski emphasised that investors shouldn’t get too excited about CosMc’s but he added it could go global.
“It’s not worth our time to develop an idea that will only work in one market,” he said.
Earlier this year, a BBC investigation uncovered allegations by McDonald’s staff of a toxic culture of sexual assault, harassment, racism and bullying at its UK restaurants.
The BBC was told that workers, some as young as 17, were being groped and harassed almost routinely.
In response, McDonald’s said it had “fallen short” and it “deeply apologised”.
Last month, the UK boss of McDonald’s told MPs the fast-food chain was receiving one or two sexual harassment claims a week following the investigation.
