Costco to End Food Court for Non-Members

By an edhat reader
For more than a decade the food court at Goleta's Costco was one of the best deals in town for inexpensive fast food, serving Costco shoppers, visiting students and locals alike.
Starting March 16 it shall be no more unless patrons are Costco membership holders. The minimum annual membership fee is $60.
The food court offers a large hot dog and soda for $1.50, large pizza for $9.95, and more.
41 Comments
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Mar 02, 2020 01:13 PMIt's within their right and I support this decision. Even though membership is $60 a year, you will save that much buying 5 pizzas a year or 20 hot dogs or 18 smoothies, 40 rolls of kitchen paper towels....
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Mar 02, 2020 01:26 PM10 gals of mayo, 1 gal of mustard, 17 gals of vodka. As long as the pharmacy doesn't need membership I'm good. I bet their sales at the food court go way down.
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Mar 02, 2020 01:33 PMYou don't need a membership to buy the vodka, but the sale prices at Vons or CVS are better with shorter lines.
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Mar 02, 2020 02:30 PMThey don't really care if their fast food sales go down-they aren't making a lot of profit.... it's a marketing tool to get you into Costco.
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Mar 02, 2020 04:36 PMThe Costco Food Court is a huge "loss leader" to get you to spend more time there either at the start or end of your Costco purchasing binge inside.
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Mar 02, 2020 01:15 PMFair enough. Membership has its privileges.
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Mar 02, 2020 02:12 PMThe Costco where I grew up had the food court inside and you had to be a member. They're pretty open about selling their prepared food at a loss to get customers to the store. Seems like a good call to me. Love the 1.50 hot dog but I am still bitter about the polish sausage going away.
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Mar 02, 2020 09:26 PMAgree, sad about no polish dogs!!
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Mar 03, 2020 07:01 AMFree the Polish dogs!
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Mar 02, 2020 03:09 PMAwesome! Now I can go and get food without dealing with interlopers.
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Mar 02, 2020 04:34 PMIt's not a very healthy menu selection.
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Mar 02, 2020 04:54 PMNot that I'm encouraging it, and I am a Costco member, but you can still easily get a soda by bringing your own cup. It's around the side with no one checking .
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Mar 02, 2020 05:27 PMMIDAIR, Thanks for the reminder about the placement of the soda dispenser. I am reminded how easily it could be a site for infection because it is unmonitored and anyone could touch it with their fingers. No more Costco soda for me.
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Mar 02, 2020 09:32 PMAlong with the fact, that it's STEALING and it will weigh on your conscience for ages or at least until you get caught, which will happen. If somebody is doing that, they are also certainly stealing at work & many other places.
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Mar 02, 2020 09:33 PMJust mentioning that, Midair, makes you complicit. Boo
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Mar 03, 2020 12:31 AMIt was a PERFECT comment. There was no quid pro quo! Somebody PARDON me!
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Mar 03, 2020 07:03 AMI think my downvote flushed you.
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Mar 03, 2020 12:49 PMUsed to do this all the time when I worked for Costco, especially in their Ventura county locations. Thousand Oaks management didn’t like it (but never said “stop doing that”) but other VC locations were openly ok with it. That said, I would not have tried it as a non-employee.
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Mar 02, 2020 06:37 PMIt's only fair.
I'm surprised it wasn't that way from the start .
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Mar 03, 2020 06:36 AMThe food court is inside the store in many other locations. SoCal outdoor food service to non-members is an unusual freebie.
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Mar 03, 2020 08:29 AM@6:36am Some locations with the indoor food court would let you in if you told them you only wanted to go the food court (much like you can still go to the pharmacy or buy alcohol without a membership)
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Mar 02, 2020 09:37 PMThe dogs always make me too gassy. But for a 1.50, it's the best bang for my buck.
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Mar 03, 2020 08:41 AMCorrection 371, best bang for your "buck and a half." :-)
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Mar 02, 2020 11:54 PMYou can have 2 people on one membership, and each person gets their own card. So, split the cost of the membership, and each person pays $30 a year. Then, you can take advantage of all their other good deals.
I like the See's Candy gift cards. And, I like the Croissants, bread, cat food, cat litter, bleach, vinegar, photo section - developing film, whip cream, frozen garlic bread slices, butter, baby diapers.
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Mar 03, 2020 06:47 AMIs the plan that a membership card must be shown at window?
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Mar 03, 2020 07:30 AMToo bad they are making this decision because I am sure many workers in the area with limited resources can eat lunch at a reasonable price. Now they really only have McDonald's in walking distance. Lines will probably be shorter for members now.
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Mar 03, 2020 07:51 AMThose with "limited resources" can do what was always done for lunch in the past - pack your own lunch. Pick what ever easy to prepare, low cost, healthy options you want. To claim there is only low cost McDonalds or Costco for lunch makes no sense. Generations of Americans packed their own lunches for both work and school.
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Mar 03, 2020 08:55 AM@ concern----buy a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs,peanut butter, 5 apples... A grand total of about $9 that will feed you lunch for a week. Please....
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Mar 03, 2020 09:19 AMI wonder how often people thank you for giving them unsolicited advice? I rarely get thanks for mine.
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Mar 03, 2020 11:46 AM"reasonable price" . . ." McDonalds" You haven't been there in a while?
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Mar 03, 2020 08:48 AMI see nothing wrong with this decision. Capitalism and Free Enterprise at work here, and I'm not sure paying members should be supporting non-members. It seems as though people that want a cheap meal and other bargain goods but who aren't willing to pay the annual fee to join Costco would quickly benefit in savings on other consumer items they could buy there. All thelocations that I have been to out of state have indoor food courts for members, although someone mentioned "some locations" allow you to purchase food if you are not, but just about everyone I've seen at those indoor courts are also standing in line with shopping baskets.
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Mar 03, 2020 09:28 AMI would’ve preferred just charging more for nonmembers. Rarely do I need bulk items that are an especially good value at Costco.
Sure do appreciate that their employee wages are better than other big box stores.
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Mar 03, 2020 10:23 AMFood waste is said to have gone up by a lot once these bulk stores became popular. No one can eat a gallon of mayo before it goes bad. Most of the Costco profit comes from the membership fees so let's see if this encourages more people to buy them.
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Mar 03, 2020 10:25 AMI very much doubt that Costco is making less than $60/year profit per customer.
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Mar 03, 2020 01:17 PMMoney dot com has a long article about how CostCo basically breaks even on the goods they sell. At $60 per membership, they make $4.3B from that, which is 110% of their net income in 2019. It is an amazing business model.
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Mar 03, 2020 10:26 AMI see a bright future for Dave's Dogs!
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Mar 03, 2020 11:24 AMALORESENFANTS - yeah, but only if they use bigger dogs and softer buns. I've tried Dave's many times hoping for something great, but always disappointed with the dogs. Everything else there is awesome, but dogs need more meat and better buns.
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Mar 03, 2020 02:21 PMKind of agree with you -- if they had a skin-on frank with the snap and pop, they'd have an even brighter future? But as a single guy with a small apartment and no need for Costco, I'm not about to pay $7.50 to get a hot dog there once a month. So Dave's it is --
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Mar 03, 2020 06:08 PMALORSENFANTS - "knackig" is my favorite German word. It refers to that snap when you bite a good wurst!
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Mar 03, 2020 05:44 PMI hope they build a wall to make it be indoors. Less waiting in long lines for members, less germs near the soda fountains. Good, good , good.
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Mar 03, 2020 05:46 PMI can see where paying a membership fee wouldn't be worth it to many people, it depends on your total shopping needs. We are just a couple, but save a good deal on staples, from TP and paper towels, to meat, fish, condiments and frozen foods. Using the Citibank/COSTCO card returns significant rebates, as you can use it anyplace, and if you travel or eat out, you get good rewards. This year we got 3X our executive membership fee back; at a $60 standard membership it would be three times that. So, it depends on one's total shopping needs and preferences. It helps if one has a deep freezer and likes to prepare large batches of meals at once!.
I too miss the polish dog!