Big change coming to Costco's $1.50 hot dog-soda combo

The hot dog combo is a customer favorite at the retail giant. The hot dog combo is a customer favorite at the retail giant. Photo: Toby Talbot, Associated Press Photo: Toby Talbot, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Big change coming to Costco's $1.50 hot dog-soda combo 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

They’ve been a fixture at Costco for decades, drawing crowds for lunch, kid parties and date nights, with a price that hasn’t changed in 27 years.

We’re talking about Costco’s $1.50 hot dog and soda combo at the food court. Last year the Issaquah, Wa.-based retail giant sold 109 million combos in its 600-plus warehouses worldwide.

But fans of the quarter-pound dog and 20-ounce fountain soda are in for a change. Starting in April, Costco will begin selling Pepsi instead of Coke in the food court, a switch that happened during Costco’s cola bidding process, the industry site BevNET reported on Thursday.

Customers will still be able to get other sodas, but will cola drinkers still flock to the combo? It’s so popular that customers have written the company’s magazine, Costco Connection, with fond stories of longstanding lunch dates, family dinners and kid parties – one including a stretch limo – all involving the $1.50 meal.

Costco heard grumbling back in 2009, when it switched from Hebrew National to Kirkland Signature hot dogs. That was despite the new dog being slightly bigger than the old, kosher dog.

The other big change came earlier, when Costco upsized its soda, from the original 12-ounce can to the 20-ounce vat that now comes with free refills.

Now for the bigger question: Will the price remain $1.50? The article didn’t answer that specifically, but it quoted Alan Bubitz, Costco’s VP of food services, as sort of saying it.

Plus, Costco is proud that its famous hot dog combo has cost the same since 1985. “You’re not going to be able to please everybody,” Bubitz told BevNET, referring to the impending Coke-to-Pepsi switch. “It’s our job to preserve the integrity of the price point.”

Costco has grown profits and membership, despite charging a fee to shop and rarely advertising. (And making you wander through its warehouses with no aisle signs).