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On McDonald’s Investor Day, more data on how its small format restaurants are doing

With changing patterns of dining, how are small format restaurants, like McDonald’s CosMc, shaping up?

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CosMc, a new concept restaurant by McDonald's, is based on a McDonald's character of the same name from outer space.
CosMc, a new concept restaurant by McDonald's, is based on a McDonald's character of the same name from outer space.
Shammi Mehra/AFP via Getty Images

McDonald’s is holding its “investor day” presentation on Wednesday, where it will update shareholders on big strategy moves like corporate restructuring and growth opportunities. One topic that is almost certain to come up is a highly anticipated new concept restaurant called CosMc, named for an alien character featured in McDonald’s ads in the 1980s.

McDonald’s has been pretty secretive about the new concept, but leave it to people on the internet to go snooping.

Photos of a location outside Chicago show a menu with almost all drinks. “We’re talking energy drinks, specialty coffee drinks,” said Kevin Schimpf at food industry research firm Technomics. “Probably a lot of colors going on too, a lot of flavors.”

Like the limited edition purple Grimace shake of last summer, he said the items could be a hit on social media.

They also don’t take much space or labor to make, noted professor Alex Susskind at Cornell.

“It allows the guests to kind of have a restaurant experience but at a lower cost or a lower commitment,” he said.

It could also allow McDonald’s to expand early moves toward automation — on-brand for the futuristic alien theme.

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