McDonald’s announced it will be testing out a small number of new restaurants in early 2024 that will be called CosMc’s (pronounced Cosmics), which refers to the CosMc alien character who appeared with Ronald McDonald in three separate McDonald’s television commercials that aired from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Although McDonald’s remained mum on specific details about the upcoming spinoff restaurants, such as where they will open and what the overall aesthetic will be, a few details were touched on during the CEO’s Q2 conference call in July. The restaurant prototype is expected to be a smaller and carryout/delivery express model with less space devoted to a dining room.
Buzzed about but unconfirmed potential sites where McDonald’s will be testing the concept include Chicago, Las Vegas and Denver. The CEO had also previously mentioned that he’d like to have smaller McDonald’s units fill in areas of the country that have seen a population growth and are consequently underpenetrated with its restaurants, especially within the Southeast.
There are rumors that the new CosMc’s prototype will be an adaptation of the 3,200-s.f. fully automated, contactless McDonald’s restaurant that opened last December in White Settlement, Texas. Perhaps by incorporating the cute, wacky, six-armed alien character into the robot-like ordering technology — a process that eschews human interaction and has a conveyor belt deliver the completed order to the customer — the whole procedure will become less mechanical and impersonal and more of a fun, experiential moment.
Another theory is that the alien character will be a nostalgic draw for both millennials and the younger Gen X consumers who grew up with fond memories of the commercials. This demographic are now parents who may want to relive their youth by introducing their own children to the McDonald’s spinoff restaurant experience.
This idea of promoting a random McDonald’s mascot actually has some merit, as the restaurant chain’s “Grimace Birthday Meal” happy meal marketing campaign that occurred over the summer, centered on yet another character from its commercials, became a viral sensation thanks to the meal’s limited-time bright purple berry-vanilla shake. There are now more than seven billion TikTok views of fans posting their own unique “fake death” reactions after drinking the purple Grimace shake.
McDonald’s is no stranger to creating new restaurant experiences, especially in the space realm, as evidenced by its UFO-shaped unit in the alien conspiracy theory-loving town of Roswell, N.M. This unique restaurant, which was built into a UFO theme back in 2005 and updated in 2020, features McDonald’s characters suspended in space suits in its interior, as well as a space-themed mural, LED holographic lighting and a storefront that resembles a flying saucer jutting out of it. In addition, last year McDonald’s erected a 13-foot-tall NASA Apollo spaceman statue outside of its location in Nassau Bay, Texas, to pay homage to the Space Center Houston, which is less than a mile away from the restaurant.
