The trend: Two quick-service restaurants are using beverage spinoffs as test labs to learn about consumers’ tastes, and, perhaps, drive incremental revenues.

• Chick-fil-A on October 30 opened the doors to its first Daybright Coffee and Refreshment. Daybright is a standalone beverage-focused concept from Red Wagon Ventures, a subsidiary of Chick-fil-A Inc.
• Yum Brands-owned Taco Bell is expanding its Live Más Café drink-focused concept, which debuted last December. By the end of the year, it expects to have 30 Live Más Cafés in its portfolio, with locations in Southern California, Dallas, and Houston.

The chains, along with Wendy’s, Burger King, and other QSRs doubling down on beverages, are seeking to grab a piece of the fast-growing, high-margin US nonalcoholic drink market, which Fortune Business Insights estimates will grow 5.0% to $178.1 billion this year.

The challenge: It’s difficult for any spinoff concept to move the needle at companies the size of McDonald’s or Yum Brands. McDonald’s generated $25.9 billion in revenues last year, so even $50 million from a beverage-driven spinoff would amount to little more than a rounding error.

• McDonald’s sparked the spinoff trend when it repurposed existing real estate to launch CosMc’s in December 2023. The opening initially drew long lines and heavy buzz, and CosMc’s eventually expanded to eight locations in Illinois and Texas.
• But customer feedback was telling. For example, a Turmeric Spice Latte proved “too edgy,” and a Creamy Avocado Tomatillo Sandwich fell flat, according to The Wall Street Journal.
• By June 2025, McDonald’s ended the experiment, saying CosMc’s had “served its purpose.” The company plans to test select CosMc’s menu items in hundreds of existing restaurants.

Our take: McDonald’s pivot makes more sense than running standalone beverage stores, a lesson others, including Wendy’s and Burger King, appear to be embracing.

• The focus on drinks is paying off: Taco Bell’s beverage sales through August were up 16% YoY, and 62% of its orders now include a drink, per Restaurant Dive.
• At its Irvine, California, Live Más Café, the chain sells up to 900 drinks daily, with a third tied to café-specific offerings. Still, it’s unclear whether that momentum would carry over if those beverages were folded into standard Taco Bell locations.