Fans of Costco’s popular hot dog combo now have another drink option to choose from when they order the $1.50 meal.
The membership warehouse club is known for its steep discounts on household essentials, but its food court has also gained a loyal following for offering the affordable hot dog and soda combo, whose price hasn’t increased since the 1980s.
Recently, many customers have noticed that Costco is now offering the option to order a water bottle with a hot dog instead of a 20-ounce soda. The hot dog and soda combo, which comes with a drink refill, remains available.
One Instagram user recently shared a screenshot of the updated menu, which includes a Hot Dog & Soda Combo and a Hot Dog & Water Combo, both for $1.50.
“I love that Costco is now also offering the hot dog combo with water!” they captioned the post.
Costco is a membership warehouse club with more than 800 locations worldwide, more than 600 of those in U.S.
Some shoppers are just discovering the menu update, but many social media users were already in on the secret several months ago. In November, one customer shared a video of herself purchasing the hot dog and water bottle combo.
When a Reddit user discovered the new menu option several months ago, they shared a post on the platform. Many other Redditors shared their reactions in the comments section.
“Many times I’ve refused the cup and spent the 25 cents on the bottled water. So this is welcome,” one commented.
“Interesting. Soda is 69 cents (nice) and most store have the vending machine with water for 25 cents. Nice to have the option though,” another wrote.
One Canadian customer said their local store in Toronto had already been rolling out the menu update “for several months” at the time.
TODAY.com reached out to Costco for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Costco customers have been fans of the $1.50 hot dog combo for decades, especially the fact that the price hasn’t risen since the 1980s.
In 2024, Costco CFO Gary Millerchip addressed concerns that the store may need to raise the combo’s price amid increasing inflation.
“To clear up some recent media speculation, I also want to confirm the $1.50 hot dog price is safe,” Millerchip said during the chain’s Q3 2024 earnings call.
The statement came after Millerchip’s predecessor, Richard Galanti, had suggested that the combo’s price could change, telling Bloomberg, “It’s probably safe for a while.”
Previously in 2022, Galanti said Costco had no plans of increasing the combo’s price, maybe “forever.”
The price of the hot dog combo may have remained static in recent decades, but Costco has made changes to who has access to the affordable meal deal.
In 2024, Galanti told Axios that Costco locations with outside food courts would begin requiring membership cards to order from its menu.
“One of the challenges is that some of the food courts have gotten so busy, particularly if it’s near some office buildings or construction sites,” Galanti said at the time. “We were getting member complaints.”
The same year, Costco announced it was raising customer membership fees for the first time since 2017.
And in 2025, its food court swapped out Pepsi products for those from Coca-Cola. It had served Pepsi since 2013, when it switched from Coca-Cola after 27 years.
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