The Costco food court is famous for a few different reasons–their low prices, huge portions of food, and their sometimes extremely long wait times.
That’s why many customers choose to call in their orders ahead before arriving.
In this Reddit AMA, a Costco food court employee actually said that they prefer when people call in to pre-order. So, the next time you’re craving a Costco pizza, simply find your local Costco and give them a call!
When you call, you will first be connected to the Costco answering service. From the main menu, choose the option to speak with the food court. When an employee picks up, you can submit your order, and they will let you know how long it will take before your pizza is ready. It’s a good idea to call in your order at least 15 minutes before you want to pick it up, but sometimes allowing for as long as 30 minutes is wise.
Instead of paying over the phone, you will be asked to pay for your pizza on arrival. Costco accepts cash, checks, debit cards, and credit cards. Debit and credit cards must be either Visa or Mastercard to be accepted.
Pre-ordering your Costco pizza over the phone is the quickest, easiest, and best way to order a Costco pizza. Unfortunately, Costco does not take food court orders online, which you can read more about in our post here.
If you want to check out a potential hack for getting your Costco pizza delivered, check out our article about it here.
Contents
Costco Pizza Menu & Pricing
As of 2023, the Costco food court only sells two types of pizza–cheese and pepperoni. A full-size 18” pizza costs $9.95 while a single slice of either option costs just $1.99. Each full-size pizza comes with 12 large slices.
Costco also used to sell a super popular combo pizza that contained both meat and veggies, as well as a full veggie topping option. These have both been discontinued in recent years, much to the dismay of food court fans. If you want to customize your Costco pizza, your only option is to request “half cheese, half pepperoni.”
Take-and-Bake & Frozen Pizzas
Once upon a time, Costco offered a take-and-bake version of their popular food court pizza as well. But sadly, this is all in the past.
We haven’t been able to figure out why exactly Costco discontinued their take-and-bake pizzas, but it’s likely because they weren’t popular enough, causing Costco to lose money. But all hope is not lost! Costco still has take-and-bake pizzas in their frozen section inside the store.
To have a look at some of the take-and-bake pizza options on Costco.com, click here.
How Early Can You Call For Pre-Orders?
The Costco food court begins taking orders more or less as soon as the store opens (which is typically at 10 AM during the week and 9 AM on the weekends).
To find out exactly how early your local Costco food court opens, find your local Costco store listing, check their opening hours, and give them a call once they open to place your pizza order. When you reach the Costco answering service, select the option to speak with the food court.
Wait times can range anywhere from about 15 minutes to one hour depending on how busy the food court is when you call. It’s not a good idea to call in a pizza order more than one hour before you plan to pick it up, as it will likely be cold by the time you eat it.
Ways To Pre-Order Pizza Online From Costco
The one big downside to ordering pizza from the Costco food court is that they do not offer delivery or an online portal for orders. To order from Costco, you have to go there in person to pick up your pizza even if you call to pre-order.
But some Costco fans have figured out some hacks for placing their Costco pizza orders online and even getting them delivered. These methods might require some extra cash and creativity, but they’re totally doable. Keep reading for details.
Hire Someone Through TaskRabbit
TaskRabbit is a service that connects users with freelancers for a wide variety of tasks, including shopping, pickup, and delivery services.
To use this service, create an account with TaskRabbit, find someone that does “delivery” or “shopping,” and reach out! You can ask them to call in your order, pick it up, and deliver it to you if you’re willing to pay for their services. All of this can happen via the TaskRabbit app or website, allowing you to place your Costco pizza order online.
Just be aware that TaskRabbit freelancers are paid hourly, and the ones with good track records on the platform often charge as much as $40 per hour. Consider this added cost before deciding whether you really want your pizza delivered.
Order With Instacart
Instacart offers another potential workaround for ordering your Costco pizza online, but it’s somewhat complicated.
Follow these steps and see if you can make it work…
- First, you will need to place an order for at least $10 worth of items from Costco through the Instacart app (this will not include your pizza)
- Get in touch with the food court at the Costco where you Instacart shopper has been asked to shop and submit the order for the pizza(s) you want
- When you get your shopper’s details, call or text them to politely ask them to pick up your pizza(s) from the food court (they are not obligated to do this for you, and it’s possible that they might say “no”)
- Your Instacart shopper will have to add the pizza(s) to your order at the Costco register as an add-on item and front the money for the pizzas themselves (be prepared to pay them back in cash along with a generous tip when they arrive with your delivery)
- If your IC shopper says “no,” your only option will be to pick up the pizza yourself (this would defeat the whole point of this somewhat complicated endeavor, so be aware of the risks before you try it out)
As this reddit thread outlines, most Instacart shoppers are pretty skeptical about trusting customers enough to put their own money on the line, which is very understandable. Technically speaking, this “hack” isn’t even in line with Instacart’s standards of operations, so there are many reasons why your IC shopper might decline your request.
If they do end up delivering your pizza for you, make sure to tip them well since they went the extra mile!
Customer Reviews of Costco Pizza
Customers are generally quite positive and enthusiastic about the quality of Costco’s food court pizza. It’s known for being big, cheap, filling, and tasty. Customer complaints are mostly about wait times (which can be very long during busy hours).
I actually tried a piece of Costco pepperoni pizza myself this week, and I was very pleasantly surprised! I’ve honestly read a lot of reviews that made me think that the Costco pizza might be a bit more on the bland side, but I can assure you that it was delicious, flavorful, and super filling, especially for under $2 per slice.
Here’s one example of a Costco shopper who’s especially excited about the insanely low prices at the Costco food court…
However, not everyone is as excited about Costco’s pizza. Here is an example from Reddit of a customer who thinks the quality of the Costco food court has gone down in recent years…
When it comes to pre-ordering your Costco pizza, this Reddit user shares that it might not save you time in the end…
Costco also sells a variety of frozen pizzas that are generally spoken of in a very positive light as well, including their Kirkland Signature cheese pizzas and Motor City Pizza Co. pepperoni pizza.
FAQs
Is Costco pizza pre-cooked?
It depends. If you buy a pizza from the Costco food court, then you will receive a fully cooked pizza. However, if you buy a pizza inside the store, it comes raw, either refrigerated or frozen. Any pizza purchased inside of a Costco Warehouse location (not at the food court) should be cooked thoroughly prior to eating.
How long is Costco pizza good for?
Generally speaking, pizza can last for about three or four days in a fridge if stored properly. While we could not find the source quote, this article from Business Insider states that Costco Connection, a magazine published by Costco, claims that the warehouse chain’s pizzas are fine to reheat “up to 48 hours after purchase.”
Can non-membersat Costco?
Yes. In the majority of cases, Costco food courts are housed outside of the warehouse and do not require membership for purchase. However, a handful of Costco Warehouse locations across the country house their food courts inside, in which case you will be asked to show a membership card upon entry.
