McDonald's is opening a mysterious new spinoff restaurant named after CosMc in its latest nostalgia play

• McDonald's is expanding restaurants and testing new designs around the world.
• The chain announced plans to build a spinoff restaurant called CosMc's.

McDonald's is opening a spinoff concept called CosMc's, CEO Chris Kempczinski told investors Thursday.

"Our new business ventures team is in the process of developing a new concept we will call CosMc's, which we will test in a small handful of sites in a limited geography beginning early next year," Kempczinski said during the chain's second-quarter earnings call. "CosMc's is a small-format concept with all the DNA of McDonald's but its own unique personality."

The CEO said the company will provide more details on the concept during its investor day at the end of the year.

After the earnings call, the chain confirmed to Insider that CosMc is a character from McDonaldland, a fictional universe home to characters such as Ronald McDonald. The alien character debuted in the last 1980s.

The CosMc's spinnoff is the latest nostalgia play McDonald's has embraced. The company brought back Grimmace for his 52 birthday with a purple shake that went viral. In 2022, the company launched Happy Meals for adults.

The new concept announcement comes as McDonald's steps up the pace of new restaurant openings this year. In January, the company said it will spend over $1 billion to open 1,900 stores worldwide. Of those stores, more than 400 new stores are projected in the US and certain other markets such as Canada, UK, and parts of Europe.

McDonald's has built its reputation by developing cookie-cutter restaurants around the world.

But the company is also focusing on modifying traditional restaurants to meet the digital demands of today's customers.

"While our primary focus is on opening traditional units, we are always testing and learning new ways to meet the needs of our customers," Kempczinski said.

He pointed to a carryout-only restaurant in Texas and a restaurant in China that uses food lockers.