McDonald's is finding out that sequels rarely live up to the originals. The fast food giant is scrapping its space-themed spinoff CosMc's two years after launch. According to the company, all five remaining locations will shutter at the end of June, including two in San Antonio.

Introduced in 2023, CosMc's was McDonald's response to a changing fast food landscape. As beverage-based chains like 7 Brew, Gong Cha, and Swig made inroads with Gen Z customers, the mega-chain's McCafé line of espresso drinks did little to improve afternoon sales slumps.

With its new brand, McDonald's countered with a grab bag of culinary trends. The fully customizable menu co-opted ubiquitous trends, adding oat milk in its Iced French Toast Galaxy Latte, boba in its Sour Cherry Energy Boost, and wellness add-ons in the Coconut Vanilla Protein Frappé.

"What started as a belief that McDonald's had the right to win in the fast-growing beverage space quickly came to life as a multi-location, small format, beverage-focused concept," the brand shared in a release. "It allowed us to test new, bold flavors and different technologies and processes — without impacting the existing McDonald's experience for customers and crew."

But it couldn't quite escape its internal jargon — and maybe its triple shot of hubris. The concept was named after an obscure McDonaldland character that appeared in a few commercials from 1986-1992, as well as the ill-fated video game M.C. Kids.

And if customers hovered over drinks on the online menu, a series of off-putting ingredients would be unveiled. It's difficult to smack one's lips at the thought of "neutral slush base" or "blueberry inclusion."

For its part, McDonald's says it will be "building on the insights" it learned from the experiment. Although it had previously thought its employees could not efficiently handle customized drinks, it turned out that customers demanded less customization than McDonald's had previously thought. The corporation plans on adding some of CosMc's menu items to its main menu.

The CosMc's app will go dark, and all five existing locations will shutter on a rolling basis. In addition to the San Antonio drive-thrus, the company operates two outposts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and one near its corporate headquarters in Chicago. The two Alamo City locations are at 12360 FM 1957 and 8726 Potranco Rd.