The Bold Food Court Item Costco Offers In China But Not The US
From batteries to golf clubs, it seems there isn't anything Costco doesn't sell. However, when it comes to the food court where the company offers its iconic cheap $1.50 hot dog and soda combo, those of us in the United States may be missing out on something special. Internet sleuths have come across a video on TikTok that showcases the store selling buckets of spicy fried chicken right alongside Costco's consistently good pizza in a Chinese location, and this realization has given some folks stateside a tinge of jealousy.
@fruzloops The Costco in China food court had more food options...next time I want to try the bucked of fried chicken 🍗 #costcochina #china #costco #shenzhen #costcofood
On the social media platform Reddit, one user converted the listed Yuan prices to the U.S. dollar and came up with a cost of $7.72 per six-piece bucket of spicy fried chicken. That's a deal by American standards, with an eight-piece bucket of KFC selling for roughly $20. Yet it wasn't just the reasonable price that impressed those who watched the video. Many were left wondering why the food court options are so lacking in the U.S. compared to overseas counterparts.
Why isn't fried chicken in Costco's U.S. food courts?
One predominating thought as to why the big-box store doesn't offer a bucket of spicy fried chicken to customers in the United States is that it might result in the membership warehouse competing against itself. Costco sets out fresh rotisserie chickens every two hours, and they fly off the shelves in a hurry. If the retailer sold ready-to-eat buckets in the food court, it may affect the sales of its staple poultry item. This could result in food waste — which, for a business like Costco, means money thrown in the trash.
The lack of fried chicken in America may also be due to supply issues. If the poultry is too expensive or doesn't live up to the company's self-imposed quality standards, it wouldn't make sense to add it to its food court repertoire. Some believe this is why Costco's Canada locations discontinued selling wings a couple of years back. One Redditor, who claims to have asked folks at their local Costco, stated "Their supplier had been delivering smaller and smaller wings over time and wasn't willing to go back to the old size." Due to this, the retailer may have decided it was better to take them off the menu entirely. Regardless of why U.S. Costco locations refuse to sell the enticing food court items offered abroad, fried chicken-loving patrons of the membership warehouse are crossing their fingers in the hope that changes.