Fast-food colossus McDonald’s is tinkering with the locations for its CosMc’s cafes by closing three locations and opening two smaller stores.

Since December 2023, seven CosMc’s locations opened: six in Texas along with a flagship in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook. The restaurants have different drinks and food available compared with a normal McDonald’s, such as churro-flavored frappes, smaller and more seasoned hash browns and three varieties of donut holes with filling.

Menu overlap between the two stores includes egg McMuffins and McFlurry desserts.

The seven locations included smaller format stores and remodeled, larger restaurants that used to be normal McDonald’s locations. After more than a year, the company has decided that smaller is better.

“We learned that the smaller format stores allow us to test new, unique circumstances that are reflective of our customer base. As a result, we will open two new smaller format stores in Texas in 2025 and close three of the larger locations that were remodeled into CosMc’s locations,” McDonald’s said in a release Thursday.

The CosMc’s website lists opening the Bolingbrook location, plus in the Texas towns of Dallas, Fort Worth, Allen and San Antonio.

Closed locations include one in Arlington, Texas, and another in Watauga, also in the Lone Star State, according to USA Today. 

McDonald’s didn’t specify whether stores that were remodeled into CosMc’s locations will revert to being McDonald’s restaurants or close entirely.

The chain’s name and space-based marketing refer back to an old McDonald’s character, CosMc, who appeared in the chain’s marketing in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.