Company says the new chain is quote "Rooted in beverage exploration with new flavors and bright colors."

該公司表示，這個新品牌被描述為「基於飲料探索，擁有新風味和明亮色彩。」

This small-format beverage-led concept is only available in Bowling Brook, Illinois with plans to expand.

這個小型飲料主導的概念目前僅在伊利諾伊州的博林布魯克提供，但計畫擴展。

It's the company's first new restaurant concept in the US in decades.

這是麥當勞數十年來在美國推出的首個全新餐廳概念。

Heather Haden joins us now. She covers restaurants from the Wall Street Journal's Chicago Bureau.

Heather Haden 現在加入我們。她是《華爾街日報》芝加哥分部的餐廳記者。

Thanks for being with us.

感謝你的參與。

So what is CosMc's competing against?

CosMc's 與什麼競爭呢？

Yeah, I think you could look at Starbucks, Dutch Bros, and some of these other beverage-led concepts that McDonald's has said they've really never had beverages that could compete with some of these coffee-oriented chains that serve all these kinds of iced beverages with flavors and syrups that have become really popular on TikTok with younger consumers.

是的，像是星巴克、荷蘭兄弟以及其他一些以飲料為主的概念店。麥當勞表示，他們以前確實沒有能夠與這些以咖啡為主的連鎖店競爭的飲料。這些連鎖店提供各種口味和糖漿的冰飲料，這在 TikTok 上已經在年輕消費者中變得非常流行。

And so they are giving this a go, so they've opened this one restaurant in a suburb of Chicago and they've said that they're going to test and learn and see what they find as they open a handful of other sites.

因此，他們正在嘗試這個，他們在芝加哥的一個郊區開設了這家餐廳，並表示他們將進行測試、學習，看看在開設其他一些地點時他們會發現什麼。

So they're going to open about 10 sites, next year there'll be 10 sites mostly in the Texas area

所以他們打算明年開設約10家分店，主要集中在德州地區。

And they're going to see what they find. What do consumers think about this? Is this profitable? But it's definitely a different trajectory for McDonald's.

他們將觀察他們所發現的情況，像是消費者對此有何看法？這是否具有盈利性？但這對於麥當勞來說顯然是一條不同的發展軌跡。

I mean you won't find a Big Mac or fries on the menu.

畢竟你在菜單上找不到大麥克漢堡或薯條。

It is quite the departure, sort of my view about it.

這確實是一個很大的改變，這是我的看法。

So what's the business strategy with more drive-through lanes and no dining rooms?

那麼，更多的得來速卻沒有用餐區域的營業策略是什麼呢？

Yeah so this is all about efficiency, really.

這都是跟效率有關。

So I think these restaurants can be run probably with less labor than a typical McDonald's.

我認為這些餐廳可能需要比一家典型的麥當勞更少的勞動力來經營。

It's also going to be you know not have the really complicated kitchen equipment that a traditional McDonald's would have with all those friers.

而且，這些餐廳可能不會擁有傳統麥當勞擁有的所有複雜的廚房設備，比如所有那些油炸爐。

So this is probably a more similar to a Starbucks model which is having a few workers behind the bar, making those drinks which could yield much higher returns for McDonald's.

因此，這可能更類似於星巴克的模式，即在吧臺後面有一些工作人員製作飲料，這對麥當勞來說可能會產生更高的回報。

And something that they think is worth testing and trying to see if it works.

他們認為值得測試和嘗試，看看是否可行。

And all those drive-thru lanes, I mean that is just getting people in and out as quickly as possible and trying to make money off those sales.

而且這些得來色可以快速地讓人們進出，並試圖從這些銷售中獲利。

So the fast food market, I don't need to tell you, is already so saturated, so how does this venture breakthrough?

我想不用我告訴你，速食市場已經非常飽和，那麼麥當勞要如何突破呢？

Well, it's certainly got a splashy menu and iconography and this alien and McDonald's is a really marketing powerhouse, I mean they are one of the biggest brands in the world.

它確實擁有引人注目的菜單和圖標，還有這個外星人，而且麥當勞確實是一個強大的營銷巨頭，它是世界上最大的品牌之一。

A lot of that is because of their marketing budget so I think they will be spending time telling consumers about this.

很大一部分是因為他們的行銷預算，所以我認為他們將花時間向消費者介紹這個新餐廳。

And again, the company has said they're testing and learning from this and not saying that they're going to take on Starbucks yet.

而且，麥當勞表示他們正在通過這個項目進行測試和學習，並且還沒有宣稱他們要挑戰星巴克。

But they are going to give it a go and see if they can break through like you said it is a very competitive and full market when it comes to restaurants right now but they think this is different and special and unique.

但他們將嘗試一下，看看是否能像你所說的那樣突破，目前餐飲市場確實非常競爭激烈。不過，他們認為這是與眾不同、特別而獨特的。

So in the last few seconds, who is the target audience here?

在最後幾秒鐘裡，新餐廳的目標受眾是誰？

I think it's really about younger consumers.

我認為主要是年輕消費者。

We're talking about people who want a boost in the afternoon which often is younger consumers who are looking for something cool and fresh and spicy or sweet.

我們談論的是那些想在下午提振精神的人，通常是年輕消費者，他們希望找到一些酷爽、新鮮、辛辣或甜美的東西。

Wow, I feel like I want that too but I'm not sure I'm in that demographic.

哇，我也覺得我想要，但我不確定我是否屬於那個年齡層。

But anyway, that's another segment.

但總之，這是另一個部分。

Heather Haden, thank you for your analysis.

Heather Haden，感謝你的分析。

Thanks so much.

非常感謝。