Muffins are a longtime staple in Costco’s bakery section and widely adored among members for their massive size and “delicious” flavor. However, some Costco shoppers are beginning to sour on one popular muffin variety that recently underwent a major change.
Over the summer, some Costco bakeries began rolling out smaller versions of certain muffin flavors, including blueberry and chocolate muffins. Not only are these new muffins smaller, but they’re also sold in eight-packs rather than six-packs. Costco requires shoppers to buy two six-packs of the original large muffins at a time for $9.99 at the warehouses where they’re still available, but the eight-packs are sold individually for $6.99.
The change has sparked a divided reaction among Costco shoppers, with some lamenting the decrease in size and others applauding it. But in a new Reddit post this week, one Costco member only had negative things to say about the new, smaller Triple Chocolate Muffins.
“The new chocolate muffins are just bad,” the shopper wrote. “They’re tiny, expensive, overly-thick, dry, and have an off-putting taste to them. The wrappers are annoying too. It hardly even tastes like real chocolate.”
They continued: “The old big muffins were a journey and an experience. Large enough to feel satisfied. Sweet enough, and still soft and bready. I hope they bring the old ones back as this new thing isn’t edible.”
This isn’t the only Costco fan who feels this way. The post has racked up over 300 comments from fellow members, and many of them shared similar critiques for the baked goods.
“I thought the same thing. I literally couldn’t even finish ONE. They are very dry and don’t taste good at all,” one Redditor wrote.
“Oh good it’s not just me. I thought my pregnancy was making these give me the ick. These tasted so awful and…fake?” another shared.
An alleged Costco employee noted in the comments section that the new muffins have different ingredients and a more complicated preparation method than the original. Some Costco workers could still be adjusting to the new process, and as a result, producing muffins with varying quality, the employee said.
“Basically, what I’m trying to get at is that if these muffins are mixed and baked properly, and then allowed to cool properly prior to being packaged, they are amazing. An issue that I have seen bakery employees struggling with is getting large batches of the new product prepared, baked, and cooled in a cost-effective way, as a lot more labor and precision goes into the production process of these than the legacy muffins,” they wrote.
To be clear, these muffins aren’t receiving poor reviews across the board. Some customers even raved about them in the comments section under the post.
“I really like the muffins, more than the original. [Thought] mine were dense, moist, and super chocolatey,” a comment read.
But even though the new muffins have won over some customers, the complaints are still far too numerous to dismiss.
“Bought some this weekend and I’m extremely disappointed,” a Redditor lamented.
Zoe Strozewski
Zoe Strozewski is a News Writer for Eat This, Not That! A Chicago native who now lives in New Jersey, she graduated from Kean University in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Read more about Zoe
