McDonald's To Launch New Concept, CosMc's, in Dallas Area

McDonald’s has a new fast-food concept, CosMc’s, that will arrive in North Texas next year. Although part of the "McDonald's universe," this new venture is being marketed as a completely different experience from the fast-food giant's familiar stores, with a menu and atmosphere all its own. If McDonald's is Happy Days, consider CosMc's to be Mork and Mindy.

A press release describes CosMc's as “inspired by nostalgia and powered by a menu of bold, refreshing beverages and tasty treats.” As far as the menu goes, the focus is specialty beverages like the S’mores Cold Brew and Popping Pear Slush, snacks such as pretzel bites and ice cream, and existing McDonald’s breakfast items like the Egg McMuffin Sandwich.

This description may have some astute readers wondering, “Is McDonald’s just ripping off Dutch Bros?” The answer is a firm no. Dutch Bros might have a strikingly similar concept and menu, but it doesn’t have an over-the-top space theme and an elaborate fictional backstory about an alien committing corporate espionage. Nobody else is doing all that.
This is not the first time a fast-food corporation has made Dallas the unwitting testing ground for a new concept. In 2022, McDonald's brought its first fully automated location to Fort Worth. Yum! Brands, the company that operates Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC, has launched more than one new concept in Dallas. One was Super Chix, a would-be competitor to Chick-fil-A that debuted in 2014 but ironically now has zero Texas locations.

Banh Shop, another Yum! Brands joint that serves Banh Mi, debuted in Dallas around the same time and now has locations across the country, including a handful in DFW.

(We’re trying not to think too hard about why Dallas is perceived as such a captive audience for the latest in corporate fast casual dining.)

Time will tell if CosMc’s will take off or fail to launch. Perhaps it will take its place among the stars and become as ubiquitous as the franchise it spun off from. Or maybe it’ll be sucked into the black hole of weird failures currently inhabited by the McPizza.

While there is currently no set location or projected opening date for CosMc’s in DFW, McDonald’s plans to have 10 pilot locations up and running by the end of 2024 in San Antonio and DFW.