The Costco Food Court Loss That Broke The Hearts Of Thousands Of Shoppers

A trip to Costco comes with a variety of delights. The primary purpose of such a trip is, of course, to stock the house with inexpensive bulk packages of favorite foods and household items. But they sure know how to keep us coming back. Pushing a full cart through the checkout at this warehouse chain can sting the wallet a bit but capping off the shopping experience with the famous $1.50 hot dog combo or an oversized $2 slice of pizza helps to soothe that hurt — which is why it is especially painful when favorite Costco food court items disappear. That's exactly what happened to the Combo pizza.

For those that never had the pleasure themselves, Costco's Combo pizza was a glorious slice bedecked with the myriad toppings of pepperoni, Italian sausage, black olives, mushrooms, red onions, and bell peppers. It was, in truth, a fairly standard complement of toppings for what might be called a "supreme" pizza elsewhere, but don't let that diminish the glory that was finishing an arduous shopping trip through the towering shelves and wide aisles of Costco with this exceptional slice.

To the dismay of many shoppers and loyalists, this pizza tragically disappeared from the food court while the COVID-19 pandemic was changing everything in our lives. To date, it has not made a proper return since, and many still miss Costco's third topping.

Costco is known for many things, but the one that gets the most engagement is likely how it keeps food court prices cheap. It is widely understood that the company loses money on certain aspects of the food court, like the hot dog combo, but it seems completely okay with that. The concept is called a "loss leader," and the idea is that even if the chain loses a little money on every hot dog, if it helps bring in customers that will fill their cart on the way to the food court, then it's a win on the whole.

Unfortunately, while this ethos is applied to some menu items, it appears that it is not a universal ideal that the food court should operate at a loss. Costco never made an official statement about the Combo pizza, but according to rumors online, it's likely that the slice was cut primarily because the cost of making the pizza was considerably higher than the cheese and pepperoni alternatives.

Supply-chain disruption may be another issue. The other two pizzas use only ingredients with very long shelf lives, like mozzarella cheese and sliced pepperoni. The Combo pizza, on the other hand, also relied on fresh ingredients like mushrooms, onions, and peppers. It's possible that sourcing these fresh ingredients was either too difficult or too expensive at the height of the pandemic. But regardless of the cause, it seems that the Combo pizza will not be making return.

While this favorite pizza is unlikely to crop back up at the food court — in spite of a 19,000-signature petition in its favor — that doesn't mean that it has disappeared entirely. The days are gone when you could grab that $2 slice at your local Costco branch, but the combo pizza does live on in a few forms, namely through Costco's Combo Calzone. This is the closest thing to a direct replacement offered by the warehouse chain and can be purchased at the food court. However, it carries a much higher price than the single slice, and many diehards aren't quite satisfied.

The second option is the Kirkland Signature Take-and-Bake Combo Pizza. Again, while it sounds like it should be a pretty solid replacement for the original, customers disagree. The price alone is considerably more than it used to be for a whole prepared Combo pizza — and you still have to cook it at home. But beyond price, folks just aren't happy with the pizza itself either.

For those willing to take on an exceptional journey, there is one way to taste the pizza that American Costco shoppers lost, provided you travel to Japan. Costco branches in the Land of the Rising Sun still offer the Combo by the slice. Customers note that the ingredients may be slightly different (like mushrooms, for example), but the soul is the same. A flight to Japan is a long journey for a pizza, but love makes us do crazy things.