Discontinued Costco Food Court Items You Wish Would Make A Comeback

A ranking of Costco's current food court items includes some of the retailer's most beloved items that members enjoy, from the classic hot dog to the signature chicken bake. However, no matter how delicious today's selection is, nothing can take away customers' memories of what was once available to them. There are far too many discontinued items that Costco members can only hope will one day return to the food court's menu.

Whether it's the famed combo pizza or the fallen cinnamon sugar pretzels, several items have been removed from the store's variety of fresh, ready-made options throughout the years. Costco is generally quiet about the changes it makes to its food court and the reason behind its choices, leaving customers to suddenly realize one day that their favorite meals and desserts are no longer being sold. But unlike Costco, the public has not held back in sharing their grievances about the loss of such tasty treasures.

Of all the food court items that have disappeared from Costco's menu throughout the years, there's one whose loss seems to have made the biggest impact: the iconic combo pizza. The cult-favorite pie was generously loaded with pepperoni, sausage, peppers, mushrooms, and onions and was available for only $9.95 for an entire pie. Between its stellar price and flavor, there was so much to love about this food court item that there was hardly any room for people to complain about it.

So if it was as well-received as it was, what exactly happened to the combo pizza? Maintaining its low price point is speculated to be one of the contributing factors to the pizza's eventual downfall. To keep the combo pizza the same price as Costco's far simpler offerings, such as a cheese or pepperoni pizza, would be quite difficult taking into consideration the time, effort, and amount of ingredients it takes to create. In addition, everything was taking hits during the pandemic, which was when this menu item was removed.

Fans didn't take this decision lightly. As with a couple of other foods mentioned on this list, a petition was started to bring back the combo pizza. Almost 19,000 people have signed since it began in August of 2020. Four years later, Costco now sells a take-and-bake version of the pizza in the store's freezer section. While it might not feel the same as getting it fresh and ready to go from the food court, this pizza is one of the many frozen items you should stock up on at Costco if you still want some way to enjoy the food of yore.

Costco dealt a big blow to its customers in the past when it removed the renowned churro from its food court menu not just once, but twice. The doughy, cinnamon- and sugar-coated dessert was once sold for only a dollar. It was the perfect reward to end off a cardio-heavy grocery run through the big warehouse. However, these affordable, straight-ridged goodies disappeared during the pandemic.

They were reintroduced in 2021, but not without a few changes. And as the saying goes, don't fix what ain't broken. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing that the classic churro had returned in a newly twisted form. What threw customers for an unwelcomed loop was the 49-cent increase in price and what some people claimed on Reddit to be a "dry and sandy" texture. Based on the same thread, most people yearned for the original churro and were overall disappointed with what someone called the "abomination" that followed in its stead.

These generally unsuccessful tweaks happened just for Costco to once again remove the churro from its menu altogether at the start of 2024. You can still buy the discontinued treat, but there's a catch; they must be bought frozen and in bulk from the store. And this time, there's no "upgraded" version to take the place of the freshly made version in the food court, as Costco swapped the churro for a more expensive, albeit pretty hefty, double chocolate chunk cookie. 

Though removed over 10 years ago, the loss of the hand-dipped ice cream bar is still felt to this day. 2013 was the year Costco members said goodbye to the $1.50 vanilla ice cream bar, coated in decadent chocolate and (optionally) rolled in roasted almonds. By allowing you to choose whether you wanted nuts or not, this menu item was ahead of its time, and shoppers have been missing it ever since.

Victor Valley News Group reports that the decision was likely made due to the steadily increasing price of almonds and dairy at the time. Costco did not comment to confirm this when the public shared its distress over the removal of the dairy product. The only semblance of comfort the mega-retailer provides customers can be found in its freezer aisle. There, customers with a sweet tooth can find an 18-count package of Kirkland Signature Ice Cream Bars, which, lo and behold, have a chocolate-coated vanilla body with roasted almonds.

This frozen version is the closest fans will get to being able to experience the ice cream bar that used to be made right in the food court. However, those expecting the Kirkland Signature product to taste just the same as the original variety should be warned. "It just isn't the same as having it made in front of you," a Reddit user said. "When they dip it by hand there's much more chocolate and almonds and the thing is just a delicious mess."

History really does repeat itself. That is, at Costco's food court at least. The corporation just can't seem to leave its ice cream alone. Igniting similar painful memories from when the hand-dipped ice cream was scrapped, the grocer's strawberry ice cream cups were recently sent to the chopping block, too.

The initial months of 2024 were a happy time for some and a very sad one for others when the sweet treat was omitted from the store's offerings less than a year from its release in 2023. People's reactions ultimately depended on whether they liked chocolate or strawberry ice cream more, as the fruity dairy product was booted when the chocolate variety took its place on the menu. Now you might be wondering why both flavors couldn't be kept. While Costco never released an official statement to answer that, it's likely due to the fact that some soft-serve machines can only hold two varieties at one time. And the age-old debate is always between vanilla and chocolate, not vanilla and strawberry. So it'd make sense for the retailer to make the switch, though it's not a choice everyone was on board with.

When people think of Costco's food court, the first thing that likely comes to mind is the iconic hot dog and soda combo that's been around since the '80s. How could it not? It's a very valid association considering a little under two dollars gets you a reasonably sized hot dog along with a soft drink of your choosing. But people have become so enamored by this great deal that they seem to forget the other food court hot dog Costco gave up on.

Right alongside the normal all-beef hot dog was the Polish hot dog. Actually a kielbasa, this variation is thicker in texture with a smokier, more garlic-forward flavor than your usual frank. Costco deprived fans of this robust option in 2018, stating on its website that it removed the Polish hot dog in order to "simplify [its] menu and make room for healthier options." Those more nutritious items included the açaí bowl and al pastor salad (both of which were also discontinued later on). For those who are still missing the more heavily seasoned frank, your best bet would be to stop by the store's freezer aisle for a pack of Kirkland Signature Beef Polish Sausages and make them yourself at home.

Sugary, cinnamon-coated desserts don't seem to have much luck at Costco. Shoppers may have recently grieved the loss of the big box company's churro, but far before the churro came another snack that members loved just as much if not more: the cinnamon sugar pretzels. Why these were pulled from the food court, Costco never revealed. But considering the treats were fairly similar and catered to both cinnamon lovers and sweet tooths, it wouldn't have made too much sense for the motive to be solely nutrition-related. It's more likely that Costco was trying to make room for a commodity that simply sold better or took less time and effort to push out to its customers.

Regardless of the exact reason, the churro certainly built its own fan base. Some were thankful for its addition, while others lamented the original cinnamon snack that came before it. Unfortunately for them, it might be easier to go to your local fair or Auntie Anne's to satisfy your sweet and salty soft pretzel cravings now.

Costco's current food court holds a space for the $6.99 turkey Swiss sandwich. But in the eyes of many customers, that wet, cold mess doesn't seem to compare to the other turkey-based option that was on the menu before it. The hot turkey and provolone sandwich was unfortunately taken out of the running during the pandemic. Once selling for $3.99, the pre-COVID commodity contained oven-browned turkey, provolone cheese, and garlic-basil mayo, all on a toasted roll.

Members of the retailer who keep up with the store's food court offerings created a thread on Reddit titled "It's time for the Turkey Sandwich Showdown!" Users debated the two turkey products, and the verdict leaned heavily in favor of the older version. One person had particular fun in the comments, saying, "Seems like the Old Turkey sandwich had a near flawless bout and the new one is about to go down ... FINISH HIM." 624 people upvoted this comment to show agreement.

Picture ending a long, tiring grocery trip spent hauling loaded carts with a meal as filling and smoky as Costco's barbecue beef brisket sandwich. Sadly, picturing a taste of the savory dish was all some members could do since the product was only available at certain locations. And now that the barbecue beef brisket sandwich has been officially discontinued years after it was introduced in November of 2013, even those who were lucky enough to have them at their store have no choice but to imagine their unlikely return.

For $4.99, the sandwich was generously packed with shredded brisket, crunchy coleslaw, and the star of the show: barbecue sauce. This saucy, hand-held 'wich was widely loved by those who had the option of trying it. But an ex-food court worker shared on Reddit that they were also a "pain in the butt" to make and contained a high amount of fat. One sandwich contained 33 grams of fat as well as a whopping 1,630 milligrams of sodium, according to Eat This Much. It wouldn't be surprising if the removal of these sandwiches from Costco's food court had to do with these concerning nutritional facts in conjunction with the complicated production process.

Even Costco's stout efforts to provide healthier options weren't enough to protect certain items from being taken off the menu. Case in point: the açaí bowl. This intended health-conscious, vegan product was added to the store's lineup in 2018 when it replaced the Polish hot dog. Coming in at about five dollars, customers would get a 330-calorie bowl of açaí along with toppings like fresh strawberries and blueberries, banana chips, and Kirkland Signature Granola.

Not everyone was head-over-heels for this bowl, though. In fact, some took to Reddit to share their disdain for it even after it was already discontinued in 2020. One user claimed it was "extremely tart and overwhelming," while another went so far as to say, "It was the worst acai bowl I've ever had. Good riddance." It definitely didn't help that the bowl is estimated to have had around 41 grams of sugar, which, natural or not, is a rather concerning amount. Plus, there was hardly any protein.

Still, others who wished for the bowl to stick around were equally quick to share their grievances. The refreshing ingredients, sweet flavor, and satisfying crunch were enough for some people to declare the treat their "favorite." And at the end of the day, even with its high sugar content, it was still a more nutritious alternative compared to most of the corporation's other menu items.

Along with a few variations of pizza and, of course, the famous hot dog and soda pairing, Costco rounded out its lineup of classic American dishes in the past by selling a cheeseburger in the food court. But just as the combo pizza and Polish hot dog were swiftly phased out, so were these five-dollar organic beef burgers. Coming in at a mighty one-third of a pound, the burgers contained cheddar cheese, tomato, lettuce, and a sauce very similar to Thousand Island dressing.

They were only available at 10 Costco warehouses to begin with, some of which were in Seattle and Southern California. And the product lasted a brief three years at these select locations, having been added in 2017 and done away with in 2020.  Within that time, though, they were already impressive enough in looks to be compared to Shake Shack — one of the nation's most popular fast food chains, known for its delicious cheese sauce and juicy meat.

So why would an item that was viewed so favorably be taken off the menu just like that? As you can guess, Costco never stated. One shopper suggested that it was likely due to the high expenses that came along with obtaining the proper equipment and ordering patties to the store. Not to mention, it'd be harder for workers to multitask when they're busy hovering over a grill — a time-consuming effort that wouldn't go so well at a place as busy and crowded as Costco.