Inflation has worked its way into the Costco food court, the land of the $1.50 hot dog.
The good news is that the beloved hot dog combo — which has been in place since 1985 — remains untouched by the recent price hikes.
The bad news is that it’s going to cost you an extra dollar for a chicken bake and another 10 cents for a 20-ounce soda.
How much do food items cost at the Costco food court?
The recent price hikes are part of a national update for Costco, Business Insider reported.
“I was surprised, ’cause they never do increases on the items,” Georgina Gomez, a longtime food service worker at Costco, told the Los Angeles Times. “Once they’re out, that’s usually the price they keep.”
The chicken bake is now $3.99 — $1 more than in June, per Business Insider. The price of soda, meanwhile, has gone from $0.59 to $0.69.
But the $1.50 hot dog and soda deal, one of Costco’s biggest draws. remains intact. The company has long been dedicated to keeping the $1.50 deal — so much so that Costco founder Jim Sinegal once told Costco CEO Craig Jelinek: ”If you raise the (price of the) ... hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out,” per 425Business.
It’s a message Jelinek apparently didn’t need to hear more than once.
“We have no plans to take that hot dog above a buck fifty. End of story,” Jelinek said in January 2020, according to Business Insider.
Other popular food court items also remain untouched, including a slice of pizza for $1.99 and a rotisserie chicken for $4.99, Eat This, Not That reported.
Other Costco news
Costco is currently facing a lawsuit over alleged mistreatment of the chickens used for its $4.99 rotisserie chickens, the Deseret News reported. The lawsuit was filed last month.