Costco says it will keep its hot dog combos $1.50. Here's how

Customers wait in line at a Costco food court in Hawthorne, California. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Fear not, hot dog fans: Costco doesn’t plan to raise the price of its beloved franks anytime soon.

The retailer has been hawking its hot-dog-and-soda combo for a smooth $1.50 since it first hit menus in the mid-1980s.

The price tag has held steady over the years despite inflation — otherwise it would be closer to $4.40 these days.

“People like it because it's delicious and it costs a dollar fifty, which is actually very loyal to the history of what the hot dog is: a low-price food for the masses that is, ideally, good,” explains Jamie Loftus, author of Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs.

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Speculation that the cost of the famed combo might be changing began to heat up in March after Richard Galanti, the company’s then-chief financial officer, told Bloomberg that it’s “probably safe for a while” — not necessarily the guarantee that every hungry Costco member wanted to hear.

His successor, Gary Millerchip, cleared things up in his first quarterly earnings call on Thursday.

“To clear up some recent media speculation, I also want to confirm the $1.50 hot dog price is safe,” Millerchip said.

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That sound bite has since made the rounds on social media, providing welcome relief to the chain’s many hot dog devotees.

Loftus says, "It's a good PR move for Costco to not change this price," adding that it has a humanizing effect on the company.

"It's like a PR slam dunk for them, as has this story always been," Loftus told NPR. "It's like that, 'No, we're not going to change the price. We've got your back.'"

Costco did have to raise the cost of certain food court staples — its chicken bake and 20-ounce sodas — in 2022, at the recent peak of food price inflation.

Its treasured $4.99 rotisserie chicken remained immune, however.

That and the hot dog are what experts have called an example of loss-leader pricing — a strategy in which companies sell certain products below their market cost in order to get customers in the door and, ideally, putting even more profitable goods in their carts.

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Galanti had said in earlier earnings calls that revenue from other sectors of Costco helped keep food court prices low, according to The Hill. 

Executives offered similar explanations on last week’s earnings call.