Why These Beloved Costco Food Court Items May Never Come Back

The Costco food court is a place of legends, but as years go by and the menu changes, some people are bound to be disappointed. Lovers of Costco flock to Reddit to discuss their feelings on the ever-evolving food court menu. One user took to the subreddit r/Costco to voice their displeasure at several menu items being removed. Included among these are the Caesar salad, Polish sausage, Combo Pizza, as well as the availability of sauerkraut and onions as hot dog toppings. This Reddit user was not the only person to be chagrined at the loss of the Combo Pizza. BestLife reported that Twitter users also showed collective rage at the removal of the Combo Pizza after a viral post eulogizing the snack got over 13,000 likes and 2,000 retweets. 

On top of that, the pandemic era has seen a lot of changes to the Costco experience because of warehouse supply chain issues. Both the supply chain and inflation have made keeping prices low a struggle for the warehouse giant, The Street reports. The question is, will Costco consider bringing back any of the items due to members' concerns about their removal?

The short answer is that it's unlikely that the Costco food court will bring the menu items back, no matter how the members feel about losing some of their favorite food items. A Costco food court employee replied to the Reddit post, relating an experience when a higher-up came to visit the branch. The manager asked about similar menu changes to the original poster (the Combo Pizza as well as the sauerkraut and onion toppings,) and the reply was not encouraging. The user reported, "There are currently no plans to bring those items back as it is extra cost and labor ... he went on to say that they do not believe bringing back combo or onions would do much to dramatically increase sales since sales did not decrease upon taking them away."

Another Reddit user had emailed Costco to voice their dismay about the Combo Pizza and reported their reply, "We understand your dissatisfaction about not having the Combo Pizza as part of our menu offering at this time. A difficult decision was made to simplify our business and unfortunately, the Combo Pizza was removed." 

Even though some customers are upset by menu changes, there's at least one Costco food menu mainstay that isn't going to change anytime soon — the price of hot dogs. The CEO of Costco, Craig Jelinek, when asked by CNBC if the iconic $1.50 Costco hot dog would be getting more expensive anytime soon, simply answered: "No."