Costco CFO Has Good News for Fans of the Chain's Beloved Hot Dog Combo Meal

Inflation may be hitting Americans at everywhere from the grocery store to the fast food counter, but one thing that won't be changing anytime soon is the popular hot dog combo meal at Costco, which will remain at $1.50, the price it has been for nearly 40 years.

CNN consumer reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn confirmed on Thursday that the big box retailer's newly installed executive vice president and chief financial officer Gary Millerchip promised that the price of the meal would stay unchanged. "Costco’s new finance chief today: “I also want to confirm the $1.50 hot dog price is safe," Meyersohn reported on X.

The combo meal, which comes with a quarter-pound all-beef hot dog and 20-ounce soda, has been a staple since it was first introduced at the price back in 1985.

Retired Costco CEO Jim Sinegal and late chairman Jeffrey Brotman, who cofounded the company in 1983, famously pledged to never raise the cost of the meal. In an interview with the Seattle-based publication 425 Business in 2018, then-CEO Craig Jelinek, who succeed Sinegal, recalled his predecessor's response to being told the price of the hot dog meal was no longer sustainable.

“I came to [Sinegal] once and I said, 'Jim, we can’t sell this hot dog for a buck fifty. We are losing our rear ends,'" Jelinek, who stepped down in 2023, said at the time. "And he said, 'If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.'"

"That’s all I really needed," Jelinek continued. "By the way, if you raised to $1.75, it would not be that big of a deal. People would still buy. But it’s the mindset that when you think of Costco, you think of the $1.50 hot dog."

To maintain the price, executives learned that they could build their own hot dog-manufacturing plant in Los Angeles to produce the chain's Kirkland Signature hot dogs. At the time of publication, the company had opened up a second plant in Chicago.

"By having the discipline to say, 'You are not going to be able to raise your price. You have to figure it out,' we took it over and started manufacturing our hot dogs," Jelinek added. "We keep it at $1.50 and make enough money to get a fair return."

And years later, the original founders are still keeping with their promise. Long live the $1.50 Costco hot dog and soda combo.