A healthier menu at the Costco food court has cost many of its customers their favorite item on the menu. The company announced over the weekend that it would revamp its food options in the big box store’s food court, trading out some of its traditional menu items for vegetarian, vegan and overall healthier choices.
One immediate casualty to that change is the polish dog, a customer favorite that seems to have created quite a stir online as part of its removal. According to USA Today, the company will introduce items including organic burgers, açai fruit bowls, and a plant-based “al Pastor Salad” to its menu in the coming months.
The Polish hot dog is going away at many Costco stores in the Seattle area and elsewhere to make room for new items. But rest easy: the original all-beef hot dog combo — sold for $1.50 with a soda — is not going away.
Costco has hinted at a menu change since early this year and recently began rolling out new vegan and vegetarian food items.
“Not everybody gets as excited about pizza and hot dogs as I do,” chief executive Craig Jelinek told shareholders in January.
As it turns out, people do get that excited about hot dogs, especially when they are taken away from them. The Seattle Times first reported the changes to the Issaquah, Washington store and, as word spread, so did the backlash to that report.
Many of the responses online have been downright vulgar, bringing to question just how much people loved the cased meat item in the first place. But there were a few less profane but still outraged responses.
https://twitter.com/TheJamesMattone/status/1016330344822386688
COSTCO NO LONGER SELLS THE POLISH DOG 😩😢😩
— Jonny Dac Biet (@jonphu15) June 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/WorldofIsaac/status/1016454512071102464
Finding out that Costco is removing the polish dog off the menu 😭😭😭 https://t.co/4W1HGaHqcX
— Cassandra🍇 (@Casi_Loca94) July 9, 2018
My entire childhood is eating a polish hot dog after shopping at Costco. And not to mention y'all took off the berry sundae and added an açai bowl. You also took off the chocolate ice cream and only have vanilla and this vanilla açai swirl. Genuinely mad. #SaveThePolishDog
— olivia (@mylifeasliv11) July 8, 2018
Costco appears to have protected their tweets as a result of the backlash, which saves their social media manager from seeing tweets from outraged people that don’t follow the company on social media.
When @Costco puts their account on private cuz they can't stand the backlash over getting rid of the polish dog to make room for acai bowls and burgers 😂😂😂😂 #Costco pic.twitter.com/iPllYr4x93
— 🌹Amanda (Kismet)🌹 (@midnitekismet) July 9, 2018
Perhaps that will keep the fake polish dog heads from having their say, but plenty of people seem upset about the movie. Every report about the change stressed that the $1.50 all-beef hot dog wasn’t going anywhere, but you can’t substitute an acai bowl for a good polish sausage in the eyes of many.
(Via Seattle Times, USA Today)
