May 13, 2024
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McDonald’s testing drive-thru lines at new CosMc’s in Bolingrook

More information about CosMc’s expected in coming week

By Bob Okon
Men in dark coats seen stepping outside of what is believed to be McDonald's future CosMc's restaurant in Bolingbrook. Tarp covers the CosMc's signage on the building wall. Dec. 2, 2023.

Men in dark coats are seen Saturday stepping outside what is believed to be a McDonald's CosMc's restaurant in Bolingbrook. Tarp covers the CosMc's signage on the building's wall. (Bob Okon)

A new McDonald’s spinoff called CosMc’s appears close to opening in Bolingbrook.

McDonald’s is keeping the first-of-its-kind CosMc’s under wraps, literally.

On Saturday, tarps and plastic wrapping covered signage at the future restaurant to hide its identity.

The future CosMc’s is next to a traditional McDonald’s in an outlot of a strip mall near the intersection of Weber and Boughton roads.

A man in a dark coat standing at the entrance to four drive-thru lanes cordially declined to comment on the nature of the business at the location.

Vehicles moved through the drive-thru lanes and past three drive-up windows in what looked like a test run for the operation.

A restaurant believed to be a future McDonald's CosMc's in Bolingbrook features four drive-thru lane. Dec. 2, 2023.

A restaurant believed to be a future McDonald's CosMc's in Bolingbrook features four drive-thru lanes. (Bob Okon)

McDonald’s is expected to provide more information about the Bolingbrook CosMc’s in the coming week. But McDonald’s officials and Bolingbrook village officials would not comment Friday on what is going on at the Weber Road location and whether it indeed will be a CosMc’s.

The new concept was briefly described during a summer earnings report by McDonald’s CEO and President Christopher Kempczinski. He described CosMc’s as a small-format concept that would be tested in limited markets.

News reports this week identified the Bolingbrook location as a CosMc’s site.

“I was wondering what kind of restaurant it was going to be,” Bolingbrook resident Deon Williams said Saturday as she got out of her car to go into one of the other stores in the shopping center behind the CosMc’s. “I’ve seen the construction going up. We’ve been watching it.”

Williams said she was curious what would be on the menu at CosMc’s compared with McDonald’s.

“Will it be better?” she asked. “Will it be healthier?”

A restaurant still under construction in Bolingbrook and believed to be a future McDonald's CosMc's location features three drive-up windows. Dec. 2, 2023.

A restaurant waiting to be opened in Bolingbrook and believed to be a future McDonald's CosMc's location features three drive-up windows. (Bob Okon)

The building is different than a typical McDonald’s restaurant, but with one familiar characteristic.

“It does seem to have the yellow theme,” Williams said, noting yellow accents – the color of the McDonald’s arches – in the building.

There are no arches visible, however, and the prominent color is a dark purple.

The four drive-thru lanes are accessible from their own entrance, a change from typical McDonald’s restaurants where the drive-thru lanes develop in an area shared with dine-in parking spaces. At this restaurant, there is a parking area with a separate entrance from the drive-thru lanes.

Whether or not CosMc’s have dine-in service may be revealed in the coming days. But walk-in business at McDonald’s has become more the exception, and it’s not unusual to find no one eating inside.

If McDonald’s opens a drive-thru-only business in Bolingbrook, it would mark the second time a fast-food chain did so in Will County. Portillo’s opened its first drive-thru-only business in February 2022 in Joliet.

• Reporter Jessie Molloy contributed to this story.