Costco Food Court

[babs]

Tried the cookie over the weekend and it was pretty good. Remember this is a snack bar and a cookie makes a great snack. This has winner written all over it unlike the $9.99 Roast Beef sandwich.

[arizonaguy]

I had a 1/2 of the cookie last week and it was actually pretty good.

My issue with the Costco food court is the fact that they discontinued the Combo pizza and the remaining pizza is way too greasy.

[mbz321]

I tried the cookie yesterday as my store purchased some for the staff (I'm an employee).
It was a lot larger than I imagined and it was good (not something that really 'wowed' me, but good enough for a cookie). Definitely sharable between two people (and probably best if you do given the calories )

The churro was a pretty slow-moving item from what I saw. Apparently, many did not like the 'new' churro when it returned after Covid started to fade away. I personally thought it was better/softer, or maybe that was just my location undercooking them.

I still miss the Combo pizza too and still can't understand why they don't bring it back, even if they charged a slight premium. Meanwhile, all the $$$ are going out the window because Costco insists on using way too much cheese (one of the most expensive ingredients) for a cheese pizza, most of which ends up sliding off the soggy crust.

[ClownLoach]

I still miss the Combo pizza too and still can't understand why they don't bring it back, even if they charged a slight premium. Meanwhile, all the $$$ are going out the window because Costco insists on using way too much cheese (one of the most expensive ingredients) for a cheese pizza, most of which ends up sliding off the soggy crust.

Supposedly they lost the vendor who packaged the prepared Combo toppings, but this is Costco... They went out and opened their own chicken farm operation because they weren't getting a good enough deal from the other brands like Foster Farms or Tyson anymore. I'm not sure what stops them from just setting up the necessary operation to prepare these toppings. Sam's Club still gets these topping mixes, but their pizza leaves much to be desired due to their cheap oven (basically they use the little ones Quiznos used to use stacked on top of each other, so the heat is too inconsistent and the crust doesn't get a good finish).

Very early on in the "Food Court" operation (when pizza was first added in the 90s) they had additional toppings and if you asked they would make special orders. The vegetables were on the line separately so you could request a mushroom and pepperoni pizza for example. And they did specials including a Margherita which was their cheese pizza topped with sliced tomatoes, basil and some of the Costco jarred minced garlic... But it was surprisingly good. I agree that if they reduced the cheese on the regular cheese pizza (which has 50 more calories than the pepperoni slice!) it would offset the costs of these other toppings.

[Brian Lutz]

It appears there are also international Costcos that still have combo pizza (one just opened in Shenzhen China for example which has it) but none in the US.

As for Sam's Club, my wife recently got a membership there since there's one in town, so I've had a chance to try some of the food court options there. My first impression of the food court there is that they seem to always understaff it. Last time I went there were only two people; one on cashier and one filling orders, and both looked overworked. In theory you're supposed to be able to make a food court order from the Sam's Club app, but every time I've been there it's been disabled (presumably due to the aforementioned understaffing) so everyone ends up waiting in one slow line.

The biggest differences between Costco and Sam's Club in the food court (besides having both combo and 4 meat options for the pizza) is that there are more drink choices in the soda fountain (the fact that they sell drink cups at the checkout lines probably contributes to this), and the $1 pretzels are nice to have too. That said, for some reason the soda fountain at the local Sam's doesn't seem to have working refrigeration so the drinks come out warm and undercarbonated, and even adding ice doesn't seem to help much. I've also noticed that for some odd reason they cut the pizza slices in two on the plate at Sam's, which seems to do little besides adding an extra step to the process.

[storewanderer]

I buy pizza slices at Sam's pretty often and I've never had the slice cut into 2.

I also like the pretzel in any form (plain, butter and salt, or cinnamon), and the ice cream or frozen yogurt or whatever it is. The brownie sundae is/was excellent but it was just too much. Not sure if they still carry it.

Also Sam's has some prepackaged individual Caesar salads at the snack bar, sold by weight, most come out to around $3. There is no meat on them so the value may be considered poor, given the venue, but I really like them. They go great with a pizza slice.

I gave up on the dispensed drinks at Sam's long ago. The iced tea is horrible. I should check if they have any seltzer yet they have so many machines.

Sam's food court seems understaffed even when it has 4 people working. Their processes seem more labor intensive than Costco and many items require some degree of preparation once the order is placed (salt or cinnamon the pretzel, make a brownie sundae, etc.), and their menu is larger. But they don't get nearly as many large orders as Costco gets.

For a while Sam's had both Coke and Pepsi fountain drinks available. They marketed that. It may have been when Costco cut some flavors.

[ClownLoach]

I buy pizza slices at Sam's pretty often and I've never had the slice cut into 2.

I also like the pretzel in any form (plain, butter and salt, or cinnamon), and the ice cream or frozen yogurt or whatever it is. The brownie sundae is/was excellent but it was just too much. Not sure if they still carry it.

Also Sam's has some prepackaged individual Caesar salads at the snack bar, sold by weight, most come out to around $3. There is no meat on them so the value may be considered poor, given the venue, but I really like them. They go great with a pizza slice.

I gave up on the dispensed drinks at Sam's long ago. The iced tea is horrible. I should check if they have any seltzer yet they have so many machines.

Sam's food court seems understaffed even when it has 4 people working. Their processes seem more labor intensive than Costco and many items require some degree of preparation once the order is placed (salt or cinnamon the pretzel, make a brownie sundae, etc.), and their menu is larger. But they don't get nearly as many large orders as Costco gets.

For a while Sam's had both Coke and Pepsi fountain drinks available. They marketed that. It may have been when Costco cut some flavors.

I seem to recall some Costco stores that also randomly would cut the pizza slice in half even if you didn't ask for it. I think that stopped with the pandemic, but I definitely remember it happened. Could have been Garden Grove, which ironically is the LA Division Office (built above the checkouts and food court, so they have a low ceiling). That store had a very dark ceiling for some reason and the offices upstairs made it much worse, but a few years ago they finally repainted the entire ceiling and rafters of the store in reflective white and it looks 1000% times better. That low claustrophobic ceiling and bad lighting made the food court at that location look like something you'd see as a jailhouse cafeteria in the movies.

The Sam's Cafe operation is right now the worst thing about their stores. Somehow it's far less productive than the Costco setup, you wait much longer and they sell far less food. They close at 7pm. The frozen yogurt is awful, too many large ice crystals. The hot dog in my opinion is far superior to Costco even though it's a tad smaller, it has spice and seasoning much like the Polish dog used to. (If you miss the Polish dog, for some reason Costco still sells the sausages themselves at their Business Center locations, about $13 for an enormous pack of them). I love the pretzels. So it's a mixed bag. I think the mindset is different between the chains; many Sam's employees eat at their Cafe and they seem to be able to mobile order with their discount so it's like an amenity for the employees but they're not willing to run it at a loss like Costco allegedly does so they effectively limit the volume of the department and are satisfied with it being just a convenience that occasionally a very hungry customer will choose to wait and eat at. They should definitely move to kiosk ordering as Costco has to improve efficiency and cut costs, they probably could cut labor but serve faster and thus become more profitable.

[babs]

Since we are on the subject of what they could do with their food court. Adding a cooler with some of the items from the in-store deli in the back of the store might be a great idea. The turkey roll-ups, mac & cheese, croissant sandwich and other items that they already make and sell could be a way to round out the selection and sell more.

[Brian Lutz]

The one I've always wanted to see is the muffins being sold individually in the food court. I'd get them much more often if I didn't have to always buy them 12 at a time.

[storewanderer]

The one I've always wanted to see is the muffins being sold individually in the food court. I'd get them much more often if I didn't have to always buy them 12 at a time.

I wonder if their logic is it would hurt bakery sales of the large packs. I think they could sell individual muffins for $1.50 or some price point that would make it worth their while. Maybe even $2 at this point. This would at least deter people from going there and buying 3 muffins.

Sam's Club sells muffins 6ct for 4.99. Not sure how they are though. They don't look to be flying off the shelves, so that may answer my question. I do know they bake them from frozen dough pucks in store (you can buy a box of the pucks). Unlike Wal Mart where the muffins are all fully baked shipped in frozen and thaw and sell.