Costco Rival Sam's Club Makes a Bold Offer you May Want

There are a number of meals that are beloved for both price and taste consistency.

That includes famed fast-food deals like the Wendy's 4 for $4, and some limited-time-offer deals that have popped up at other chains. In many cases, people vary on what's a good deal/value combo.

You may have grown up with the KFC chicken bucket/sides combo being considered a great deal while other people fondly remember cheap pizzas from Domino's or value meals from McDonald's. People, however, seem to uniformly believe that warehouse clubs have consistently offered some amazing value on meal deals.  

That's why Costco (COST) - Get Free Report and Walmart's (WMT) - Get Free Report Sam's Club have been very protective when it comes to pricing. It may cost more to offer those famous deals, but the two warehouse clubs have held the line on why.

An NPR episode recently dove into why, when the price of chicken rose more than 14% from 2021, rotisserie chickens at  Costco,, BJ's Wholesale Club  (BJ) - Get Free Report and Walmart  (WMT) - Get Free Report's Sam's Club have remained at the $5 price mark.

Dozens of experts have taken to different mediums to debate everything from the ethics of cheap meat to whether the low price is a loss the retailers accept in exchange for customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Who Remembers Getting This On Family Trips To Costco?

Another beloved cheap meal is Costco's hot dog and soda combo -- served at the store's food court, the combination has retained its $1.50 price for decades and attracted generations of children accompanying their parents on shopping trips to Costco.

While less strongly engrained in American culture, Walmart offshoot Sam's Club also had a $1.50 hot dog and soda combo for years. 

This week, the warehouse retailer said that it was lowering its price for a quarter-pound hot dog and a 30-ounce soda of one's choice to $1.38.

"New lower price," Sam's Club declared on its website as first reported by CNN. "Same great hot dog & drink combo. Frankly, it can't be beat."

While the 12-cent price difference alone is unlikely to woo over customers who would have otherwise shopped at Costco, it is symbolically very significant given that many customers love seeing prices that seem like they're from another era.

"If you raise the effin' hot dog, I will kill you," Costco co-founder Jim Senegal once famously told current CEO Craig Jelinek. "Figure it out.”

Amid Inflation, Cheap Meal Deals Hit A Nerve

Understanding the public's love for the combo, Costco's CFO vowed to keep the price of its hot dog and soda combo at $1.50 "forever" in its fourth-quarter earnings call last September. 

"Those things help us be more aggressive in other areas or, as you mentioned, hold the price on the hot dog and the soda a little longer -- forever," CFO Richard Galanti told analysts in September while explaining that a strong margin can be maintained in other ways.

It will be interesting to see whether that "forever" promise will remain or the price will trend downward now that Costco faces the pressure from a major competitor.

Even though meal deals and bundles have always been a key part of the fast-food industry,  they are especially important at a time of food inflation -- while dropping from the 13% seen in September, the CPI showed that grocery prices are still up 12.4% from October 2021.

Many lower-income consumers have increasingly been looking for bundles to get a filling meal while the $5 point has traditionally differentiated what many see as a "deal" and a regular menu item.

There was some serious outcry when privately-held sandwich chain Subway scrapped its $5 Footlong promotion in 2021 as has Restaurant Brands International  (QSR) - Get Free Report's tottering between the $5 Your Way Deal and the $6 Your Way Deal.

Last week, a TikToker named Ryan Hufford also went viral after sharing a hack allowing one to get a McDonald's  (MCD) - Get Free Report Happy Meal for $1.79.

As the low price arose from a glitch in the app's system that Hufford was encouraging fans to milk, McDonald's promptly corrected the mistake as soon as the video started gaining traction.