Costco's 4-3-2-1 Pattern For Placing Pepperoni On Its Food Court Pizza

No trip to Costo is complete without a visit to its hallowed food court, a place where legendary staples like the $1.50 hot dog combo persevere while, from time to time, crowd favorites from the food court menu are discontinued. Everyone likely has a favorite order here. If pizza happens to be yours, then you likely already know that a Costco pie is unlike any other pizza you can get. The price-to-quality and quantity ratio is nigh unbeatable, and you can get an even better deal if you buy an entire Costco pie instead of by the slice. When you buy that whole pizza, especially the pepperoni variety, you may notice a certain pattern in which those delicious crispy, chewy disks are arranged.

As alleged Costco employees have claimed on Reddit (with supporting behind-the-scenes photos), the pepperoni pattern on the Costco pizza is a pyramid of 4-3-2-1 slices starting from the crust and going toward the center. While it may be aesthetically pleasing, you can also be sure Costco hasn't just done that because it looks nice. One of the many reasons that Costco pizzas taste so good is that they are made consistently. Not only will every pizza taste equally good, but every bite will have a similar proportion of crust, sauce, cheese, and toppings. The pepperoni is therefore placed in that particular pattern to ensure that every slice is evenly covered and you get pepperoni in every bite.

Look closely and you'll see that the 4-3-2-1 pattern on a Costco pizza is in the shape of a triangle, which mirrors how the pizza is sliced. A Costco pie is cut using a metal template that ensures every slice is the same size. The device is meant to be placed in a such way that each slice features one triangle featuring the 4-3-2-1 pattern of pepperoni (or 10 pieces of pepperoni on each slice). Since a Costco pizza is generally cut into six slices, that comes out to 60 slices of pepperoni on each pizza, all placed in the same triangular shape.

When you buy an entire pie, it's likely to be cut into 12 slices, so every slice will feature about half the pattern. However, because it is symmetrical, you'll likely still get the same amount of pepperoni in every slice. In addition to churning out a consistent pizza, using this 4-3-2-1 pattern and the fact that it ensures 10 pepperoni pieces on a slice and 60 on a whole pizza also helps employees keep track of supplies. When you're churning out as much food as Costco food courts do, it helps to have toppings whose quantities are easy to keep track of, which is possibly why one crowd favorite Costco pizza was discontinued.