McDonald's adds energy drinks and specialty sodas to U.S. menu

McDonald’s is bringing energy drinks and specialty sodas into its U.S. restaurants, turning the golden arches into a sharper beverage competitor for Starbucks, Dutch Bros and Sonic. Refreshers and crafted sodas are set to arrive in April 2026, with energy drinks following in August, including a Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer, a Mango Pineapple Refresher and a Dirty Dr Pepper.

The chain said the new drinks will be priced below rival offerings, a sign that this is as much a traffic play as a menu add. McDonald’s has also been leaning on value elsewhere, including items priced at $3 or less and a $4 breakfast deal, as it tries to keep price-conscious diners coming back. For restaurant crews, that combination usually means more pressure to sell higher-margin drinks without slowing the line, especially in busy drive-thru lanes where speed is everything.

McDonald’s said the beverage rollout follows a test in more than 500 U.S. restaurants in 2025. In that trial, the company said the drinks drove incremental occasions across different dayparts and pushed higher average checks. It also pointed to "strong results from our Red Bull collaboration," showing the company sees branded energy drinks as a way to reach customers it may not catch with coffee alone. The numbers matter on the floor: if the drinks work, managers will likely lean harder on beverage upsells, and workers will have to learn more customization steps while keeping service times tight.

The company said beverages represent a more than $100 billion global opportunity, which helps explain why it is pressing ahead even after winding down its five standalone CosMc's locations in 2025. CosMc's first opened in Bolingbrook, Illinois, in December 2023, as a test bed for new drinks and customization. McDonald’s later discontinued the CosMc's app, loyalty program and web ordering on June 23, 2025, then said CosMc's-inspired flavors would be tested inside existing McDonald’s restaurants instead.

That shift puts the experiment back where most workers will feel it most: the front counter, the drive-thru and the beverage station. If McDonald’s can make specialty drinks fast enough, the new lineup could mean more afternoon visits, larger tickets and more competition not just with coffee chains, but with convenience stores that have long owned the grab-and-go drink habit.