In 2023, Costco had shoppers buzzing when it brought back a beloved hot dog condiment that reportedly disappeared during the pandemic: chopped onions. However, instead of allowing members to dispense the popular topping using the self-serve “onion crank” that was available pre-COVID, according to Business Insider, the warehouse club switched to offering small plastic cups of onions. That appears to have changed at one warehouse club, according to a Costco member on Reddit.
This week, the shopper took to the online platform to share a photo of the onion crank underneath an image with a quote from the animated film, “How to Train Your Dragon 2.” It reads, “You’re as beautiful as the day I lost you.”
The Costco member titled the thread “The onion grinder is back!” and then shared in the comments that they spotted the dispenser in Riverton, Utah. “It was cups of onions until recently,” they wrote.
With the onion crank being a highly-requested food court amenity, Reddit users were quick to comment on its reported return.
“Small world… I just ate a hotdog there two days ago and marveled at the return of the onion grinder,” one person wrote.
“Nature is healing,” someone else commented.
“Please make this company wide,” another one added.
Meanwhile, others aired their grievances with the food court’s onion cups.
“Lucky! My costco is moving backwards…last couple of years I could get a full small container of onions, last few visits it’s been like 10 pieces of onion in each cup,” one Reddit user shared.
“My location just has cups of onion that are almost never stocked 😔,” said another.
Costco did not immediately respond to our query to confirm the return of the onion crank dispenser and whether this will be available at warehouse clubs nationwide. Therefore, shoppers should still take the recent sighting with a grain of salt—and keep an eye out the next time they visit the food court.
The return of the onion crank isn’t the only new food court sighting this week. One Costco member shared on Reddit that their food court has changed the ordering process for whole pizzas. At other Costco locations, the retailer requires members to order their pizza through digital kiosks and wait for a worker to call out their ticket number when the order is ready.
However, the Reddit user reported that their warehouse club switched from using the number-calling process to requiring customers to place their order and stand in a line dedicated to those picking up whole pizzas. It’s unknown how many locations have implemented this change, though one Reddit user claimed their San Francisco warehouse “almost never had number calling.”
Brianna Ruback
Brianna is a staff writer at Eat This, Not That! She attended Ithaca College, where she graduated with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Communication Studies. Read more about Brianna
