McDonald’s said Tuesday it will add six crafted beverages to U.S. restaurants on May 6, a menu shift that pushes the chain deeper into the fast food drink wars. The lineup includes three refreshers and three crafted sodas, with flavors such as mango pineapple with strawberry boba, blackberry passion fruit with freeze-dried dragon fruit and a dirty Dr Pepper with vanilla flavoring and cold foam.
The company is betting that drinks can do more than fill a cup. Alyssa Buetikofer, McDonald’s chief customer experience and marketing officer, said fans have an obsession with beverages and that drinks are more than just drinks. She said the chain wants beverages to become a reason customers come in, not just an add-on to a meal.
That pitch matters because McDonald’s has been working on a beverage upgrade for years, and the company said visual appeal and drinks as a form of self-expression are becoming more important to customers. It is also adding a beverage specialist role at its 14,000 U.S. restaurants, with employees getting dedicated spaces behind the counter to focus on drinks. At first, high-performing workers will be selected for those roles.
The move follows a broader effort by fast food chains to use drinks to win traffic and build sales in parts of the day that are weaker than the lunch and dinner rush. McDonald’s has said its sales often slump in the afternoon between mealtimes. The company is not alone: KFC’s Kwench drink menu is rolling out to 3,000 stores this year in the U.K., Australia and Canada, while Taco Bell opened its first Live Mas Café at the end of 2024 and added 30 more locations last year.
McDonald’s has already tested how far it can push the idea. In late 2023, it announced plans for small CosMc’s stores selling customizable drinks and treats, then opened eight locations before closing them last spring. Chief Executive Chris Kempczinski said many of the CosMc’s drinks were too complex for regular McDonald’s operations, a warning that shaped this new rollout. The chain is now trying to capture the same beverage demand in a format its stores can handle at scale.
Kempczinski has framed the opportunity bluntly, calling drinks a $100 billion category that is growing faster than the rest of casual dining and carries superior margins. McDonald’s is entering that field with a simpler playbook than CosMc’s, but with the same aim: make beverages a bigger part of the business. If the new drinks work, the question is no longer whether fast food can sell more than soda and coffee. It is whether McDonald’s can turn the afternoon beverage run into a habit of its own.