The Hot Dog Topping Customers Wish Existed At Costco's Food Court

The Costco shopping experience became wildly different during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Per USA Today, the big-box retailer not only cut its hours but also limited the number of customers that could enter the warehouse to two per membership. Additionally, the chain also suspended its free sample program out of safety concerns and scaled back on its food court offerings, as well (via TODAY).

Fortunately, many of these actions have since been reversed, and shopping at the members-only warehouse club is, for the most part, back to how it was. However, there is still one pandemic casualty missing from Costco's in-house eatery that customers are seriously wishing would return: sauerkraut. The hot dog topping was the subject of a recent post to the Costco Reddit page, which rudely tricked their fellow Redditors into thinking it had been brought back.

"The return of the sauerkraut hot dog," the Reddit user captioned a photo of one of Costco's famous $1.50 hot dogs topped with fermented cabbage, though what they wrote wasn't actually the case. It turned out that the kraut was actually a free sample being passed out at the store, prompting one person to call out the Redditor for click-baiting. "Dang it OP I got all excited for a hot second," another person commented. "You're a MONSTER," a third Redditor quipped while others got nostalgic for the hot dog topper. "Kraut and the spicy mustard. Both missed," one shopper said.

Costco shoppers haven't been shy about expressing their disappointment over the disappearance of sauerkraut from the grocer's food court. One fan even went as far as to create an online petition to try to convince the company to bring it back. Therefore, we can totally understand why people were upset when the Reddit user falsely announced that the fermented hot dog topping had finally made its triumphant return after a three-year hiatus.

We do have to commend our Reddit friend for putting their free sauerkraut sample to good use. However, many people still can't help but wonder if they'll ever actually see it at the food court ever again. As of this writing, there has been no word from Costco itself as to whether or not the beloved topping will return, though one Redditor hailing from Hillsboro, Oregon claimed they spotted it at their local warehouse last week.

As some Costco fanatics may recall, the food court's diced onion topping, which was another pandemic casualty, was re-introduced to stores in the Pacific Northwest region in early 2023 before it was announced in May that it would soon be returning to all Costco stores (via TODAY). While it could certainly be a coincidence that sauerkraut was seen at a warehouse in the same area, for the sake of hot dog lovers, we hope it's a sign that it might be coming back, as well.