{"id":3553,"date":"2025-09-08T13:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T17:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/?p=3553"},"modified":"2025-09-08T13:00:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T17:00:25","slug":"costcos-40-year-food-court-shock-the-1-50-combo-isnt-budging-what-it-should-cost-now-and-why-it-wont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/costcos-40-year-food-court-shock-the-1-50-combo-isnt-budging-what-it-should-cost-now-and-why-it-wont\/","title":{"rendered":"Costco\u2019s 40-Year Food-Court Shock: The $1.50 Combo Isn\u2019t Budging \u2014 What It Should Cost Now (and Why It Won\u2019t)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Costco is well known for providing many benefits and deals to both employees and consumers, impacting their satisfaction and dedication to the retailer.\u00a0 One of the fan favourites deals the retailer has been providing for several years is the $1.50 hot dog<\/a> and soda combo. This special combo is celebrating 40 years of existence, and many wonder how this deal can remain at the same price over these decades.<\/p>\n

The retail giant and its deals<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As mentioned previously, the retail giant is known for many things, such as low prices, a variety of products, and one of the most flexible and generous return policies in all of retail. However, there is something else that sets Costco apart from all the other American retailers.<\/p>\n

This is the fact that the retailer has a reputation for being a fun place to shop. In fact, the retailer’s executive team members enjoy it to compare the Costco shopping experience to that of going on a treasure hunt. In addition, the retailer also has a staunch commitment when it comes to value. If it cannot source an item at a certain price, especially if it is happy with, it will not carry that item.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if it would be possible, the retailer will create its own Kirkland version. This is something that the retailer has done several times over since the brand was established back in 1995.<\/p>\n

Costco’s hot dog combo should cost more<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Another important thing that makes consumers want to come back for more, is the food court specials. There are always delicious eats available at affordable prices, and this is something Costco prides itself in. However, there may be no better meal deal than Costco\u2019s famous hot dog and soda combo.<\/p>\n

This year, this fan favourite combo turns 40 years old. But there is something extremely distinct about the retail giant’s hot deal.\u00a0 The company has held its initial $1.50 price steady since this combo was introduced in 1985. As it could be imagined, over the years, there has been speculation\u00a0about Costco increasing the cost of the hot dog meal.<\/p>\n

In addition, any time a new management team would take the helm, that chatter tends to increase. However, Costco fans do not have to worry about having to pay more than $1.50 for their fan favourite hot dog and giant soda. According to Gary Millerchip, Costco’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), addressed this issue during a 2024 earnings call. He stated that there is no need to worry and that he is confirming that the $1.50 hot dog price is safe.<\/p>\n

No profit on the fan favourite combo<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A common thing amongst retailers is what are known as “Loss Leaders.” These are deals that are created in such a way to attract consumers even when these deals are not profitable. However, Costco indicated that the retailer’s fan favourite hot dog combo is not a loss leader. It alluded to the fact that the reason why this deal is not a loss leader, is because the company does not lose money on the deal.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the retailer also does not make any money when it comes to the fan favourite deal. The reason for this is because Costco<\/a> is charging 1985 prices in 2025. But it has been stated that this hot dog deal is very worth it to Costco, to ensure the price of the combo remain where it is. Also, Costco’s business model relies heavily on revenue from membership fees.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the retailer is willing to forgo profits on its hot dog meal, because it is focused on retaining members and attracting new ones. Also, this is the case with every item it sells, Costco sources its hot dog meal components strategically to ensure that the costs are minimize.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Costco is well known for providing many benefits and deals to both employees and consumers, impacting their satisfaction and dedication to the retailer.\u00a0 One of the fan favourites deals the retailer has been providing for several years is the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo. This special combo is celebrating 40 years of existence, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":524,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"hide","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"custom","post_date_format_custom":"m\/d\/Y H:i","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"no-crop","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-715"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-3553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-retailers","category-news","tag-costco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3553"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3561,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3553\/revisions\/3561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gcn.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}