Who on Earth is CosMc? B-list McDonald’s character gets name-checked in spinoff chain

McDonald’s announced during its second-quarter earnings call on Thursday that it will unveil a spinoff restaurant brand in 2024 that goes by the name of CosMc’s. “CosMc’s,” CEO Chris Kempczinski explained, “is a small-format concept with all the DNA of McDonald’s, but its own unique personality,” adding that a “small handful of sites” would roll out “in a limited geography beginning early next year.”

Wait, CosWhat’s?

Scant details are being shared by the burger giant—in fact, Thursday’s full remarks were Kempczinki’s two cryptic sentences.

For additional details, you’ll have to wait until McDonald’s investor day meeting in December, he teased. The concept shares the name of a McDonaldland mascot that, if you blinked, you may have missed. The character debuted in the late ’80s and had essentially vanished by the early ’90s. For those curious about what a restaurant theme built around this character might look like, the best you can do is head to YouTube and study the handful of cameos that CosMc had made during that handful of years and try to draw conclusions.

Unlike Ronald McDonald and the better-known members of his gang—Hamburglar, Fry Kids, and Grimace, the goofy purple lug behind McDonald’s recent viral milkshakes—CosMc qualifies as a B-list McDonaldland celebrity at best. CosMc is a six-armed alien that appeared in several ads beginning in 1987. It (he? she? they?) discovered McDonald’s food during a mission to Earth and apparently stuck around.

That discovery was made during a commercial fittingly called, “The Story of CosMc.”

The ad features Ronald and Grimace walking down a trippy-looking path—as one did in McDonaldland in the ’80s—when a strange object lands in front of them. It sprouts six arms and an orange face and says, “Hi-ho Earth people, CosMc here. I popped in from outer space on a trade mission.”

It quickly becomes clear that CosMc’s trades are bad deals: For his headphones, Grimace gets something on his head that looks like a cross between a bird balloon hat and a life-preserver ring. CosMc then takes a picnic basket full of McDonald’s cheeseburgers, fries, and shakes, and shoves a bouquet of space flowers into the hands of Ronald, who isn’t loving this exchange.

Somehow Ronald and CosMc become pals anyway. In a spot that appeared the following year, they travel through space together, crossing the Milky Way to order at the “fly-through.” The ad teases new CosMc Crayola Happy Meals, available for a limited time with either crayons, chalk, paint, or markers.

In 1989, a third installment, “Mixed Up Visit,” featured Ronald and CosMc trying to meet up, but due to some miscommunication, Ronald shows up at CosMc’s spaceship while CosMc lands on Earth. They eventually are still able to eat a couple cheeseburgers, though.

CosMc’s latter career includes an appearance at the end of M.C. Kids, a 1992 Nintendo game that was set in McDonaldland. CosMc reveals where to find Hamburglar, who is hiding in a volcano with the “magic bag” he stole from Ronald.

It’s unclear if CosMc owes Grimace for the new restaurant concept given the lack of details, but the purple creature’s recent viral success proves that anything is possible with the right timing, luck, and branding.

“This quarter, the theme is—well, if I’m being honest the theme was Grimace,” Kempczinski told investors on Thursday, referring to the Grimace Birthday Meal whose purple-goo milkshake drove sales and some frankly weird TikTok trends. “Grimace has been everywhere the past few months. All over the news, and more than 3 billion views on TikTok. Not bad for a 52nd birthday. This viral phenomenon is yet another proof point of the power of marketing at McDonald’s today.”

CosMc’s may lack the same power of nostalgia, but it marks McDonald’s first big foray into a spinoff developed in-house. Previous attempts to expand beyond a single burger brand included backing some successful concepts, but never in the Golden Arches ecosystem. There was Ohio-based pizza chain Donatos in the ’90s, the fast-casual chain Boston Market, and a young burrito chain known as Chipotle.

McDonald’s cashed out of all three, which were diversions from the primary corporate goal of . . . selling more hamburgers.