Posted on 06/02/2024 3:23:12 AM PDT by RandFan
(NEXSTAR) – Gary Millerchip, the new CFO and executive vice president of Costco, shared a frank message with investors and analysts while hosting his very first Costco earnings call on Thursday afternoon.
“To clear up some recent media speculation, I also want to confirm the $1.50 hot dog price is safe,” said Millerchip, shortly after welcoming attendees to the company’s Q3 earnings call.
The price of Costco’s hot-dog-and-soda combo, at $1.50, has remained unchanged since the item was added to menus in the mid-1980s. But recent comments from Richard Galanti, Costco’s former CFO, left some consumers feeling uncertain about the item’s future.
...
The story behind Costco’s popular hot dog — and its unchanging price — can be traced back to Costco co-founder James Sinegal, according to former Costco CEO Craig Jelinek.
“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 recalled in a 2018 interview with 425 Business. “And he said, ‘If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.’”
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Brand new CFO and his first executive decision is to save the hot dog. That's what I call leadership!
Clearly now a “loss leader” for them ? In the hope customer buys other stuff ...
Although it says they produce it themselves to cut costs
I have to admit that Costco’s buck-fifty hot dog-and-Pepsi deal is a guilty pleasure. It’s a damned tasty frankfurter. And, yeah, it’s obviously a loss-leader for them, but every damned person who takes advantage of the deal is also there at Costco to buy other stuff... in many cases, a lot of stuff they didn’t even know they wanted. And that’s the whole idea.
The hot dogs and the rotisserie chickens are their loss leaders.
That way you won’t notice when membership goes up 15% and fewer brand name items go on sale in favor of their Kirkland stuff. [I’m not one who finds Kirkland stuff to be “just as good”. Some items are but a lot are not, imho.]
I’m not sure it’s a “loss leader”. Hot dogs are cheap. And some are much cheaper than others
Meh. It isn’t that good.
Costco could sell a $.99 hot dog. It’s all in the “ingredients” they put in it
“Brand new CFO and his first executive decision is to save the hot dog. That’s what I call leadership!”
More likely an indirect contribution to Biden’s campaign, given the timing of the announcement.
In any case, we’ll know a year from now if I’m right.
It’s a loss leader. This isn’t that hard.
I’m a pepperoni slice guy. And I’d gladly pay an additional quarter if they still had as much pepperoni on there as 10 years ago.
At our Costco, they don’t sell the Polish sausage “hot dog” any more. I loved that!
Last time we went, they were packaging their rotisserie chickens in plastic bags instead of the hard plastic boxes. Never again! You can’t lift those suckers out the bottom of a plastic bag.
Also, once we cut into one and it was green. The story we were told was that when a chicken is killed, sometimes Adrenalin is released and makes this happen. Not sure I believe that, but what do I know?
When we first joined costco, 1988, the only place to buy that hot dog was in a little hot dog stand outside the store.
It’s kind of amazing how Costco has changed over the years. This is one of those little ways. I suspect the hot dog will go the way of their latte. They won’t increase the price. They’ll simply take it off the menu. They’re really not very good for you.
My wife and I stopped eating the hot dog over 20 years ago. We brought it back into our diet just a couple of months ago when we discovered that one of the free soda pops you could get was club soda. We don’t do soda pop, but we will do club soda.
>>>Meh. It isn’t that good.
Hot dog Condiments do their trick.
I want the sausage back. Don’t like the hotdog.
“I want the sausage back.”
Ditto!
Well, if they’re not selling the dog-and-soda combo for a loss, they’re pretty damned close to that.
What’s included?
Per unit costs:
1. It’s a 1/4-pound beef frank. Granted, the lowest grade beef is used for hot dogs, but nonetheless it’s pretty tasty.
2. Bun. It’s a large roll with sesame seeds.
3. Paper or foil wrapper
4. Paper cup
5. Drinking straw
6. Soda-cup lid
7. Pepsico soda syrups
8. Carbonated water
9. Ice
10. Condiments (mustard, ketchup, relish
Then you get into related expenses;
Snack bar employee salary and benefits
Point-of-sale order kiosk equipment
None of this is free.
Will they stuff the hotdog with beef/pork/chicken, or will they fill the hotdog with bugs??
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