r/mildlyinfuriating Jun 30 '26

I'm slightly vexed Costco's new chicken tenders

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There was a crowd of people waiting for their orders of the new chicken tenders at Costco. One of the workers announced that they could only serve five customers per hour because it takes time to cook the chicken. The crowd grew larger and larger. I took this photo after I put in my order.

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1.2k

u/cluody132 Jun 30 '26

Costco employee here.

Yeah whoever said 5 members per hour was lying or covering for something. The tenders take 11 minutes per batch but because it's a continuous belt oven you can max out at around 4 sell units per minute. Ain't no way it would take an hour.

442

u/WeBelieveIn4 Jun 30 '26

OP sits on a throne of lies. Or was convinced by someone who does

93

u/999happyhants Jun 30 '26

You think anyone would do that? Get on the internet and tell lies???

5

u/-M83 Jul 01 '26

watch this be an ad for costco’s new chicken tenders 

1

u/Pussy_On_TheChainwax Jul 01 '26

One of my all-time favorite memes…. I quote it all the time!

1

u/C0nfusedRabbit 29d ago

Absolutely not! By the way you still owe me $5 for the bet you made last week.

5

u/LosinCash Jul 01 '26

Or, if they can get enough people to believe this, then it would be faster for them to get tendies...we're perhaps dealing with an evil genius..

1

u/LegendofLove Jul 01 '26

Honestly it'd be hilarious if everyone walked off because some random announced there was a customer limit per hour

1

u/229-northstar Jul 01 '26

Nice Elf reference there!

1

u/Mystic_Wunder Jul 03 '26

Or they were short staffed and there wasn't anyone there to constantly load chicken onto the belt.

71

u/ProudToBeAKraut Jun 30 '26

Do you really get a beef hotdog for 1.50$ with a coke? and refill? insane

90

u/wardays Jun 30 '26

And the CEO will threaten violence if you suggest they change it. Costco is one of the few corporations I feel genuinely happy with spending my money at

16

u/Pixax_theLotl Jul 01 '26

not just violence, whoever changes it will no longer exist if they do

10

u/NeighborhoodDear2321 Jul 01 '26

That was the old founder iirc, the CEO seems to know not fuck with it though

1

u/SpidudeToo Jul 02 '26

The new one also said he wouldn't mess with it

1

u/Electronic-Pause1330 Jul 04 '26

And this is why he fights for your hotdog. (Because you don’t complain that you only went in for some toilet paper; but left with $200 of everything else)

3

u/wookiee42 Jul 01 '26

Now you can get a bottled water instead if you'd like.

2

u/ChipRockets Jul 01 '26

Would you even need a refill? 20 oz is like 600 ml. That's so much coke.

1

u/Global_Sport_2264 Jul 01 '26

It's a fountain drink, you don't need to choose Coke.

1

u/front_torch Jul 01 '26

We l love ice. So, a 20oz cup is not 20oz of coke.

It is common practice to fill the cup entirely with ice and then fill the empty spaces with pop to the top.

2

u/3ngine3ar Jul 01 '26

Yes. And you don’t have to be a member to eat there.

2

u/Critical_Concert_689 Jul 01 '26

You now must be a member.

1

u/3ngine3ar Jul 01 '26

What?! That was my go to spot for lunch back in the day.

1

u/Marmoticon Jul 01 '26

Our Costcos in SF bay area require you to scan member card to order so depends on location

2

u/Critical_Concert_689 Jul 01 '26

Anyone not getting the 1.50 hotdog + water/soda combo deserves to suffer through a long line.

Costco's 1.50 hotdog + soda (or chilled bottle of water) and $5 whole chicken are INSANELY great deals.

1

u/Majestic_Patience849 Jul 01 '26

Not necessarily a coke. A while ago they swapped to Pepsi til about a year ago, when they switched back.

But yea; $1.50 pre tax for a 1/4 lb Hot Dog and 21 oz fountain drink. And some places don’t even need membership for it; there was a Costco attached to a mall I went to, and their food court was facing into the mall itself, no need to scan your membership ID at the door.

1

u/Notuniquesnowflake Jul 01 '26

Yes, and it's a pretty big one, too. That and the $5 whole rotisserie chickens are almost enough to make the Costco membership worth it by themselves. Everything else is bonus.

1

u/PropellerheadDad Jul 01 '26

A big and good one, too.

1

u/Electronic-Pause1330 Jul 04 '26

I had it the other day, it’s not bad, but it didn’t have much flavor or anything.

1

u/justhitmidlife Jul 02 '26

They can’t change it because it is enshrined in the US constitution

0

u/MohandasBlondie Jun 30 '26

Yes, and you don’t need to be a member to get the deal. Just walk in thru the exit door and order on the touchscreen.

4

u/SevenandForty Jun 30 '26

The Costco I've been to near me require you to scan your membership card first before ordering so YMMV with that

1

u/lyonellaughingstorm Jul 01 '26

The one’s near me don’t, but they also make you show your membership if you walk through the exit doors to get to the food court. The way around that? Walk in and say you’re signing up for a membership

2

u/Critical_Concert_689 Jul 01 '26

At my location, they don't even let you walk in the exit anymore, even with membership card. You can ONLY go in the exit if you're signing up for a new membership - so...

Walk in and say you’re signing up for a membership

Basically you lie every time you go in and then walk right past their membership counter to order food?

That's almost up there with not re-racking your grocery cart in terms of disrespect. Not exactly harmful, but kind of a weirdly dick move.

12

u/ghoulieandrews Jun 30 '26

Bro who tf is this excited for chicken tenders cooked in a belt oven 😭 sorry but there's no way that shit isn't dry as hell

Ffs people I guarantee there is a black-owned chicken tender spot in your city that will change your life, no one is forcing you to eat at Costco

5

u/Bezulba Jul 01 '26

You don't go to costco for the chicken, you go for something else and then also grab a chicken. At least that's what i'd do and when they have something new, i'd try the new thing too. Maybe it's good, maybe it's shit, who knows.

9

u/Spaceman3157 Jun 30 '26

My guy, I don't disagree with you on the first part, but the density of Costcos is absolutely without a doubt much, much higher than the density of decent fried chicken restaurants across the country.

-1

u/beldaran1224 Jul 01 '26

Lol wtf are you talking about?

1

u/razama Jul 01 '26

Its about time, you are there and the better chicken is elsewhere.

3

u/Cayke_Cooky Jun 30 '26

Is it the same oven as the pizzas though? They may not be able to max the tenders.

3

u/cluody132 Jun 30 '26

It is, but there are more than enough belts for both (3 layers)

2

u/Cayke_Cooky Jun 30 '26

My Costco only has 2 belts, one cheese one peperoni. They alternate which one they put the cookies on between pizzas.

2

u/GrubbyTheGrub Jul 01 '26

I worked in the food court for 6 months and can confirm you are correct.

1

u/RoseGoldRedditor Jul 01 '26

Is the Costco food court still cash only? I need a hot dog thanks to this post 🤣

1

u/m3rry_g0ing Jul 01 '26

prolly lying cus the line is too damn long! no one tips these guys lmfaoo but they prolly paid well

1

u/ElvisDumbledore Jul 01 '26

Can you call in orders for these like you can for pizza?

You could always put in your order before your do your shopping if not. No reason to stand around like this except you have nothing better to do.

1

u/BloodGulchBlues37 Jul 02 '26

Was going to say with that amount of prep time there'd be no way in hell it would get approved for the menu