Costco CFO Reveals the Fate of the Food Court Hot Dog & Soda Combo
The hot dog and soda combo at the Costco food court is one of the retailer's most iconic offerings of all time. Members love the fact that they can still score a meal for just $1.50 at a time when grocery and restaurant prices are so elevated—and some are so passionate about the deal that they've even created Costco hot dog-themed merchandise.
But will the low-priced lunch stay that cheap forever? Costco's outgoing CFO Richard Galanti—who will step down from his role on March 15—recently weighed in on the combo's fate during an interview with Bloomberg.
"It's probably safe for a while," he responded when asked what would happen to the food court offering after he was gone.
Galanti conveyed a similar message during another recent interview with the Progressive Grocer. He said that the hot dog combo and another fan-favorite product, the $4.99 rotisserie chicken, are both "likely to stay the same for a while."
These comments indicate that price hikes for the hot dog combo and rotisserie chicken aren't likely in the near future. However, Galanti's phrasing that the deals will stay put "for a while" also suggests that price changes aren't completely out of the question.
If either the combo or the chicken were to get more expensive, it would be a huge deal in the Costco community. The company has resisted increasing the prices for these items over the years and has taken aggressive measures to guard against outside market forces, including building its own hot dog plant and poultry processing facility, per CNN. Costco founder Jim Sinegal once even reportedly told former CEO Craig Jelinek: "If you raise the [price of the] effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out."
Still, Costco is currently undergoing some major leadership changes that could bring different perspectives on pricing to the company. As previously noted, Galanti is stepping down on March 15 after nearly 40 years in the CFO role, and Jelinek recently left his post at the start of the year. It remains to be seen if new CEO Ron Vachris and new CFO Gary Millerchip will be more willing than their predecessors to raise prices for staples like the hot dog combo and rotisserie chicken.
Similarly, Costco has been holding off on raising its membership fees despite executives hinting that a price hike is "a question of when, not if" for more than a year. Galanti said in December that they haven't felt the need to raise fees yet and customers are getting the opportunity to squeeze extra "value" out of their memberships in the meantime. However, it's unclear at this time if the new CEO and CFO have the same stance on hiking membership fees.
Galanti, for his part, noted during a recent earnings call that he's been joking with the new CFO that any fee hikes "will be on his watch, not mine."
Costco did not immediately respond to our queries for comment on whether the hot dog combo and rotisserie chicken prices could change.
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