How Costco’s Food Court Pizza is Made

Costco's food court pizzas are widely adored among Costco shoppers for their convenience, "amazing" flavor, and exceptionally affordable price—just $9.95 for a whole 18-inch pie. And thanks to a new photo making the rounds on the internet, Costco shoppers finally know how those famous pizzas are made.

This week, a Costco fan took to Reddit to share a photo of posters that serve as Costco's visual guide for food court pizza assembly. According to the posters—which appeared to be hanging on a wall inside a food court kitchen—all pizzas are topped with exactly 10.5 ounces of sauce.

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Costco ensures the pizzas get the exact right amount of sauce by using an "auto saucer" that evenly spouts the topping directly onto the uncooked crust. Some customers have spotted the auto saucers at work in the past and have shared videos of the mesmerizing gadgets in action.

While all Costco pizzas are sauced in this way, the assembly process varies slightly between the two flavor options available at the food courts. The pepperoni pizza (650 calories per slice), for example, is made with 14 ounces of cheese and a whopping 60 slices of pepperoni.

According to the visual guides, workers are supposed to assemble the pepperoni in a triangular "4-3-2-1" pattern with lines of four slices, three slices, two slices, and then one slice. When the pizza is divided into six slices, this ensures that every piece comes with exactly nine pieces of pepperoni—something that many Costco shoppers found fascinating.

"Now that I am seeing the pepperoni pattern based on where they intend to slice the pizza, I kind of wish all pizza places did it," one Redditor commented on the post.

"The 4-3-2-1 pepperoni action is impressive," another wrote.

costco food court food with pizza — David Tonelson/Shutterstock

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Meanwhile, the cheese pizza (710 calories per slice) comes with a whopping 24 ounces of cheese. That's 10 ounces more than what you get on a pepperoni pie and is equivalent to a whopping one and a half pounds of cheese. Shoppers who've long speculated that the cheese pizza is especially "cheesy" were delighted to have their theories verified.

"This confirms my suspicion that the cheese pizza has WAY more cheese than [pepperoni]…" a Redditor wrote.

"I've always liked the cheese pizza better, and couldn't quite explain why other than it seemed like more cheese!! Next time someone tells me that I'm full of it when I say the cheese pizza is cheesier I can hit 'em with this info. Thank you!" another commented.

In other Costco food court news, the company recently expanded the menu at its in-store eateries with a new Chicken & Bacon Sandwich (920 calories) made with oven-roasted chicken breast, cheddar cheese, tomato, lettuce, bacon jam, and a mayo-mustard sauce on ciabatta bread. Though the sandwich received an overall positive review in our own taste test, many shoppers have criticized the flavor, calorie count, and price tag of $6.99.