A Top Secret McDonald’s Spinoff Restaurant is Opening in Illinois

I am a nut for fast food news, be it new gross earnings reports, or new food item news in general. When a friend of mine sent this news tidbit to our group-chat, I couldn't start Googling fast enough.

It looks like McDonald's has something up their sleeve with a new secretive spinoff restaurant slated to open very soon. The first location will be in Bolingbrook, IL, located in Chicago's southwest suburbs, near Boughton and Weber Roads.

The restaurant, which is known as "CosMc's" (ostensibly pronounced "cosmics"), has looks vaguely similar albeit notably different from a traditional McDonald's. The soon-to-be-open Bolingbrook location sports a purple and yellow sheen.

Desperately little is known about CosMc's at this time (the restaurant's official website is a giant tease). Per ABC 7 Chicago, in an analyst call about McDonald's second-quarter financial results, CEO Chris Kempczinski announced that the chain will be slow-rolling CosMc's locations.

Kempczinski described it as "a small format concept with all the DNA of McDonald's but its own unique personality."

CosMc's has also captivated TikTok users, who have shared speculation that the restaurant might focus on baked goods. Again, nothing has been confirmed nor shared by McDonald's at this time.

This year, McDonald's has been rolling out a handful of noteworthy promotions, mainly in the realm of celebrity endorsed meals. Whether it's the Cardi B & Offset meal, or their partnership with pop sensation Saweetie, McDonald's has been bringing back tie-in items that were their bread-and-butter in the 1990s.

McDonald's also released the (delicious) limited edition Grimace birthday meal and purple milkshake, which went viral almost instantly.

The meal resulted in skyrocketing second quarter sales for the company, which were up 14% overall from last quarter, proving people flocked to get their berries and cream flavored milkshakes. It also led to an explosion of Grimace memes and TikToks.

I already told my friends we're planning a trip to CosMc's as soon as it opens. Read more about McDonald's top secret new restaurant on ABC 7 Chicago's website.