Top Chefs Take on Costco: Food Court Rankings, Recommendations, and Best Kept Kirkland Secrets!!

Adrienne and Joe break down the greatness of Costco's food court, why Adrienne finally came around on trying the menu, and how Kirkland became a status symbol. In this episode, we also discuss: How excellent the $1.50 hot dogs and pizza at Costco really are A review of the new chicken strips, and the controversial chicken bake The story behind the wholesale giant’s success How Costco quietly adapts its local inventory to match regional demographics The best food items and prices, from a chef's perspective Follow the show: @chefscutpod Follow Adrienne: @chefadriennecheatham Follow Joe: @insta.flamm

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:13Adrienne Cheatham?

  Today on The Chef's Cut, we are talking about America's most dependable place to dine out, the Costco food court.

• 0:20Joe Flamm?

  The slice of pizza at Costco is the best slice of pizza you can get from a chain restaurant in the United States.

• 0:27Adrienne Cheatham?

  Joe and I ranked the best food items, including the brand new chicken tenders.

• 0:32Joe Flamm?

  The sauce is really good. They kind of got that raising canes, like caniac sauce going on.

• 0:36Adrienne Cheatham?

  And what ingredients do real chefs think you should go out of your way to buy at Costco? And the prices on them are really good. Chef's Cut Nation, you know what time it is. We need 10 seconds of your day. Please rate and review the show wherever you get your pods. It really helps.

• 0:58Joe Flamm?

  One thing that people can agree on in the industry, in the streets, wherever you may be, is that Costco is incredible.

• 1:08Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yes. I'm a new convert. Yes. Costco is, I see what the hype is about.

• 1:15Joe Flamm?

  You know, and this is, so this is something you and I've talked about for a while. We're deep diving into this. And I found out of your lack of really Costco experience. And I think it makes sense. You know, you live in New York, you don't have kids. You know what I mean? You live in like an apartment, you're probably not buying things in bulk

• 1:32Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right.

• 1:32Joe Flamm?

  often. I don't know how many bulk things you buy.

• 1:36Adrienne Cheatham?

  I don't need a three year supply of Q-tips. Like, what am I going to put that under my bathroom sink? Like, I don't have space for all that.

• 1:42Joe Flamm?

  Well, and this is, okay, so this is the thing. This is where it begins. It's like how this conversation with you and I started is talking about how good I think the food court at Costco is.

• 1:52Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yes.

• 1:53Joe Flamm?

  And you had not fully experienced the breadth of the chef's menu over at a Costco.

• 2:00Adrienne Cheatham?

  I had not. I'd been with my sister to Costco, her and the kids. And like, you know, I got distracted by kayaks and tents and all these random things while she attacked the shopping list that she had. And I'm also like, ooh, sweatpants and leggings and kids' clothes and like fun. But yes.

• 2:18Joe Flamm?

  The sweatpants are low key nice, too.

• 2:19Adrienne Cheatham?

  They're, they're pretty.

• 2:20Joe Flamm?

  They're thick, they're high quality. There's, you know.

• 2:24Adrienne Cheatham?

  But the food court, I skipped. And so you convinced me I had to go back.

• 2:29Joe Flamm?

  So you went back. You went back and you explored. And now I've, I've been a Costco, I've been a Costco member for a long time, probably 20 years at this point.

• 2:37Adrienne Cheatham?

  Whoa.

• 2:38Joe Flamm?

  I'm an executive member now. I don't mean to brag, but you know, we get early access. It's kind of a big deal before Jen Pop opens for the rest of the store. So it's, you know, it's kind of a big deal. They don't give it to everyone. You know, you're probably a regular member. That's okay.

• 2:51Adrienne Cheatham?

  I think so. Yeah.

• 2:54Joe Flamm?

  But the food court's got a lot of things. Like, they have a lot of food that's kind of ready to eat. But then you have the food court. And obviously, you know, the most famous of the Costco brand is the hot dog. The 150 hot dog that has not changed price in forever. And there's like a famous story quoted to the CEO of somebody new trying to come in and trying to raise the price of the hot dog. And him leaning across the table and said, I will effing kill you if you raise the price of the hot dog.

• 3:19Adrienne Cheatham?

  I'm so glad he did because that hot dog, along with like the $4.99 rotisserie chicken, has built such strong loyalty. And I see why, because it is actually a damn good hot dog. But that's not the only thing I tried at the food court. So you know what? Let's rank. I tried four things at the food court.

• 3:39Joe Flamm?

  All right. Well, so what were the, what were the four you tried? You tried the hot dog?

• 3:42Adrienne Cheatham?

  I did the hot dog. I did the chicken bake.

• 3:45Joe Flamm?

  Okay.

• 3:46Adrienne Cheatham?

  The chicken tenders and the pepperoni pizza.

• 3:48Joe Flamm?

  Okay. And the chicken tenders are new addition. So we have to clarify this. You know, I know you're new to the game. So I just want to make it clear. The chicken tenders have not been a longstanding offer.

• 3:57Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 3:59Joe Flamm?

  So that's, that's new to the game. So I want to take him, I'm, yeah, I'm going to take him through one by one. The hot dog, I think is a no brainer. It's a slam dunk. It's a good hot dog.

• 4:08Adrienne Cheatham?

  So I ranked them one to four, favorite to least favorite out of those four.

• 4:11Joe Flamm?

  Oh, least favorite's easy. The chicken bake. I mean, there's chicken bake fans out there. There's this, there's like, I feel like the chicken bake is a cult classic. There's the people who are big chicken bake people. I'm not one of them. I think that's for me, the lowest tier of Costco food court food.

• 4:28Adrienne Cheatham?

  Next.

• 4:29Joe Flamm?

  Number three, I'd say the chicken tenders. Like, the sauce is really good. They kind of got that raising canes, like caniac sauce going on. But the breading was okay. It was, it was okay. You know what I mean? I'd say it's mid as far as chicken tenders go. A hot dog, I would say is number two. It's a really good hot dog. It's a really good $1.50 hot dog. But you know, I live in Chicago, the hot dog capital of earth. So it's good, but it's not, you know what I mean, a hard thing to find. I will say, I think, and this is, this is, this is, this is my truth. The slice of pizza at Costco is the best slice of pizza you can get from a chain restaurant in the United States.

• 5:08Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, Joe.

• 5:10Joe Flamm?

  And I'm saying chain restaurant. I'm saying chain restaurant is the best chain pizza place.

• 5:15Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh.

• 5:16Joe Flamm?

  In the United States.

• 5:17Adrienne Cheatham?

  Strong words. I like it.

• 5:19Joe Flamm?

  It's true. I think it's absolutely true. It's better than, and I'm not saying it's better than, you know, industry or scars or Feeny in New York.

• 5:27Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right.

• 5:27Joe Flamm?

  I'm saying it is way better. And it's, I don't think it's close.

• 5:32Adrienne Cheatham?

  But it's better than Pizza Hut Domino's.

• 5:35Joe Flamm?

  Domino's, Papa John's, Serpino's, Marcos', whatever, whatever, you know what I mean? Chain pizza place. I think Costco dog walks them.

• 5:46Adrienne Cheatham?

  I love it.

• 5:46Joe Flamm?

  Absolutely. And it's like, it's delicious. It is delicious. I eat a slice of pizza every time I go there. It does not matter time of day, night, how hungry I really am. I'm grabbing a slice of pepperoni for the road. I'm going to sit in my car and eat that in the front seat. And I'm going to be happy. I'm going to have about three and a half to four minutes of pure, absolute enjoyment.

• 6:08Adrienne Cheatham?

  So I loved that pizza. I'm not going to lie. It reminded me of like, you know, there's a difference between like pizza you liked as a kid and pizza you like as an adult? To me, that is like the best version of kid pizza.

• 6:19Joe Flamm?

  Oh, yeah.

• 6:19Adrienne Cheatham?

  The cheese is thick, it's saucy.

• 6:22Joe Flamm?

  Yeah.

• 6:22Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's got that grease dripping off. And now I can't lie, I love that little bit of grease running off the top of it. Oh.

• 6:29Joe Flamm?

  Grease me up like an old truck part.

• 6:32Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay, let me give you my four in order. Okay. So least favorite, I have to agree with you, chicken bake. I was not a fan. It had this weird like acidic taste.

• 6:43Joe Flamm?

  And I'm going to tell you, there's going to be chicken bake people coming for us on this one. The chicken bakers out there, they're going to.

• 6:48Adrienne Cheatham?

  Convince me otherwise.

• 6:50Joe Flamm?

  It's, I don't think it's good, but there's people who are like, dude, that chicken bake. And I'm like, what is wrong with you? Who hurt you?

• 6:56Adrienne Cheatham?

  Least favorite for me, chicken bake. After that, I agree, chicken tenders, then pepperoni pizza. And for me, the hot dog was the winner. It had just enough snap. The bread is soft.

• 7:08Joe Flamm?

  Good snap.

• 7:09Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's tender inside. Like, it was the best, objectively, the best hot dog I have had in a long frickin' time. That was, to me, that hot dog was it. It's huge, though. It's a massive hot dog.

• 7:21Joe Flamm?

  It's a quarter pound hot dog. It's like, I think they call them, I think they call them four by ones?

• 7:27Adrienne Cheatham?

  That's a glizzy. Now that is, that's what you're calling glizzy.

• 7:29Joe Flamm?

  Those are, those are, those are, those are horse dogs.

• 7:33Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, that was, that, that'll, that's like, you could split that with two adults and everybody would be full. But the, I agree, the chicken tenders, the breading was thick. It was kind of dry. It, it seemed like kind of dry meat on the inside. It was stringy. It was real chicken, don't get me wrong. But they were just dry. I think that would be much better if they fried them instead of baking them.

• 7:56Joe Flamm?

  Yeah.

• 7:56Adrienne Cheatham?

  I get it. It's healthier. But that, that breading just gets like.

• 7:59Joe Flamm?

  Product?

• 8:00Adrienne Cheatham?

  I think so. That, that doesn't give fried to me.

• 8:03Joe Flamm?

  Yeah.

• 8:04Adrienne Cheatham?

  Cause the crust was too dry and unevenly like crisp.

• 8:07Joe Flamm?

  So you ate all four the other day. What was your total for ordering all four of those things?

• 8:14Adrienne Cheatham?

  Just over $15. I took a picture of the screen.

• 8:17Joe Flamm?

  Did you get a drink?

• 8:19Adrienne Cheatham?

  I got a bottle of water because it came with the hot dog.

• 8:21Joe Flamm?

  Yeah.

• 8:22Adrienne Cheatham?

  I should have gotten a pop soda, but I couldn't. I was like, this is, I'm doing enough damage to my body. I'm going to get a bottle of water and try to feel better about myself for eating all four of these in one sitting.

• 8:34Joe Flamm?

  I had a Diet Coke with my slice of pizza and chicken tenders yesterday at 9:00 AM. It was electric. I was like, I was sitting in a Costco by myself, table one top dine in, having a slice of pepperoni pizza, chicken tenders and a Diet Coke while FaceTiming.

• 8:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  I think, yeah, I was going to say, I think we were on FaceTime having pizza and chicken tender breakfast.

• 8:50Joe Flamm?

  I don't think I stopped smiling the whole time. I was so.

• 8:53Adrienne Cheatham?

  You looked, that's the happiest I think I've ever seen you.

• 8:56Joe Flamm?

  I was like, this is the best. I'm like, someone's going to walk by and be like, look at this insane person.

• 9:01Adrienne Cheatham?

  But that, that brings us to, I'd heard about the prices at Costco, right? I'd heard about them for a very long time and how they're low for certain items because that hot dog is $1.50. The rotisserie chicken and the shrimp cocktail I did buy to take home because I've heard so much about them.

• 9:18Joe Flamm?

  Well, you were right. We need to talk about the shrimp cocktail real quick.

• 9:22Adrienne Cheatham?

  The shrimp cocktail, banging.

• 9:25Joe Flamm?

  Banging, banging. Like, we used to get it, like, when we were like, I remember, like, when we first started going to Costco, I think I was probably in college, my mom would get the shrimp cocktail all the time. And it's like, dude, they're rips.

• 9:38Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's huge. Like, it's like a pound and a half, like, or two pounds. And it's like 18 bucks. And it's cooked well. The shrimp are seasoned. They're not rubbery. I think that might be my favorite thing at Costco right now is the shrimp cocktail.

• 9:50Joe Flamm?

  And this might be, and I don't know if this is specifically a Chicago thing. And I'd love for someone to tell me otherwise, if this is a thing other places. But like, shrimp is kind of like a car meal in Chicago. You know what I mean? Like, the late night fried shrimp places, going to Calumet Fisheries, you know what I mean? A shrimp cocktail from Costco? Like shrimp to me is like a baller car meal. And I don't, I don't know.

• 10:14Adrienne Cheatham?

  How do you eat shrimp cocktail in a car?

• 10:16Joe Flamm?

  What do you mean? You got a cup holder? You put it on the armrest? You put the cocktail sauce on the cup holder? And it's like.

• 10:22Adrienne Cheatham?

  That does not make it okay.

• 10:24Joe Flamm?

  Yes, it does. It's romantic.

• 10:26Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's got to be cold. Like, that's a home meal. You've got to have.

• 10:28Joe Flamm?

  Just got it cold. You got to rip that thing while it's cold. You don't want to drive it home.

• 10:33Adrienne Cheatham?

  I can't take you anywhere, Joseph.

• 10:34Joe Flamm?

  Blassey AC, rip a cocktail, shrimp cocktail in the front seat.

• 10:38Adrienne Cheatham?

  And you just, what? You chuck the tails out the window?

• 10:41Joe Flamm?

  No, you put them back in the container. You throw the whole container away with the cocktail sauce.

• 10:44Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, my God. Okay. I'm questioning everything I thought I knew about you right now.

• 10:49Joe Flamm?

  Yeah.

• 10:49Adrienne Cheatham?

  Fried shrimp, yes.

• 10:50Joe Flamm?

  Hey, date night idea. Date night idea. Throwing it out there for all those Chef's Cut listeners out there. Get yourself a shrimp cocktail. Go for a drive. You don't even need a date. That's a solo date. It's fantastic. Treat yourself.

• 11:04Adrienne Cheatham?

  Treat yourself. Right.

• 11:13Adrienne Cheatham?

  My question is, because the prices at Costco are so low, does it create an unrealistic expectation for consumers about what food should cost? Like, if you go to a restaurant and you're like, I paid $18 for two pounds of shrimp, and you're charging me 25 and I only get six on a shrimp cocktail at a restaurant, people look at it like, I can just go to Costco and eat at home.

• 11:39Joe Flamm?

  Right. And well, that's always the argument, right? You see people, they'll like post a review, they'll be like, oh, well, I could have made this at home. I could have made this at home for this. It's like, all right, make it at home.

• 11:48Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right.

• 11:49Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? But you're not, you're not gonna do that. And I think because Costco's a store, then like people have that correlation in their head. It's not just a restaurant that's doing this, right? It's not like they're coming in like undercutting all the competition. They're just like, it's a grocery store. So because you're at a grocery store, the same as like if you buy a bottle of wine or a bottle, like, you know what I mean? A bottle of tequila at a grocery store is 30 bucks. If you go out and order two tequila cocktails, it's 30 bucks.

• 12:16Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right.

• 12:17Joe Flamm?

  Or if you're in New York, that's one.

• 12:19Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 12:20Joe Flamm?

  You know, like, if you're at the US Open, it's a half of a drink. Uh, but like, you know, it's just, I think there's, there's all these layers to it. So I don't think it creates an unrealistic.

• 12:31Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay, even for other grocery stores.

• 12:34Joe Flamm?

  Oh, for other grocery stores, they body, they body, they body the life out of everybody. They body them. It's awesome, too. You know what I mean? Like, you know, I think it'd just be like Team Costco. You're like, oh, yeah.

• 12:46Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right.

• 12:47Joe Flamm?

  Love to see it.

• 12:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  So I also think this is really interesting because people are so used to the prices being so low at Costco, especially like the certain things like the rotisserie chicken and the hot dog. And because I am new to Costco, mind you, you know, I've, I've recently come around. It's crazy that the prices at Costco are so low for certain items. They are not making money on them. The hot dog, that is a loss leader. That $4.99 rotisserie chicken is a loss leader. They do them to create the loyalty with customers to keep them coming back. So how do they balance out the cost on that? And since I'm newer to the Costco family, you know, you question things when you first arrive at the family.

• 13:30Joe Flamm?

  Listen, listen. Don't be that person. Shows up, hasn't been around.

• 13:36Adrienne Cheatham?

  Why does grandma do it like this?

• 13:38Joe Flamm?

  Who hasn't come to the function in 20 years? And then it's like, oh, do we always, you know, make this for this holiday? It's like, yeah, every year for 20 years, you just haven't been here. And now you want to show up and question the hot dog?

• 13:50Adrienne Cheatham?

  I do. I want to question the hot dog, the rotisserie chicken. I want to question the business model. How are they making money? Is it on memberships?

• 13:58Joe Flamm?

  Oh, yeah. I mean, the, the membership is the whole thing, right? They have an unbelievable amount of memberships. And then the retention rate of memberships, they have 81 million paid members.

• 14:10Adrienne Cheatham?

  Wow.

• 14:10Joe Flamm?

  And the renewal rate is 92.3%.

• 14:17Adrienne Cheatham?

  Geez, okay.

• 14:18Joe Flamm?

  That's like better than tobacco use.

• 14:21Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 14:21Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? Like, this is, nobody could touch that.

• 14:24Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right. Yeah. So they're padding the prices of those loss leaders with the membership prices because they've, they've also got really thin margins on the products they're selling.

• 14:33Joe Flamm?

  Do you know what they do in membership revenue? You know what their membership revenue number is?

• 14:38Adrienne Cheatham?

  How much?

• 14:39Joe Flamm?

  5.3 billion.

• 14:42Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, oh, yeah. And that's, I mean, Walmart obviously is bigger than that, but that is crazy high.

• 14:51Joe Flamm?

  And like knowing going into the year with a 90% retention rate on that, you're like, even if we dropped, it's like, we're still like $5 billion in revenue. Without selling anything. So it's like, whatever, they could give away a hot dog to every person every day. They'll be all right.

• 15:06Adrienne Cheatham?

  And still make money. That's crazy. So I'm looking at it now. Walmart comes in at 681 billion in revenue. Costco, 275.2 billion in revenue. And that's not from hot dogs, that's not from rotisserie chicken. And the thin margins on the products they sell give you a, a lot of that because they are selling such large quantities. And that's one thing that struck me.

• 15:34Joe Flamm?

  They're selling everything. They got tires.

• 15:35Adrienne Cheatham?

  Everything. I walked in and it's not like a store being stocked here and there. It's pallets, like pallets of things. Like you are selling a half of a truckload of this item, which was wild to me. I mean, just the sheer quantity that they house in these warehouses. I didn't even know that there was a place in New York that you could put this much stuff. I was shocked.

• 16:02Joe Flamm?

  I think what's cool about it, too, is like, I know you're new. Um, so, you know, I'm trying to ease you in. But like, if you've gone to different Costcos in different places, they have different stuff, which I wouldn't normally expect from like a really big box store like that, right? You know what I mean? Where it's like the more specialty markets to see the local things. But it's like, I've seen videos of like, you know, because if you deep dive into Instagram, there's a ton of Costco accounts, right?

• 16:25Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah.

• 16:26Joe Flamm?

  About like how to buy different things. There's a million things. But there's one about like, I forget what it is. And they just talk about like the best products at Costco. And for some reason, I haven't seen this in the States yet, but the Costcos in Canada have a terroresu that looks unbelievable.

• 16:44Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, I've seen videos of the Costcos in Japan that had these like beautiful sushi platters.

• 16:52Joe Flamm?

  Oh, do they have the hot dog? They gotta have a hot dog in Japan.

• 16:56Adrienne Cheatham?

  That's a really good ques- they've got to.

• 16:58Joe Flamm?

  All right. If anybody, if anybody is out there, get in the comments about Costco Japan, and I need you to send us, tag the Chef's Cut Pod. We need to see you eating a hot dog in Costco, Japan.

• 17:08Adrienne Cheatham?

  So this is crazy. So I was also like looking around Costco as I walked through these massive warehouse full of products. And I did sign up because I will be using this in my work as a private chef.

• 17:22Joe Flamm?

  Mm-hmm.

• 17:22Adrienne Cheatham?

  And I was looking at the prices on like the primal cuts of beef. Like, they're not selling individual steaks. They're selling entire rib section that you can break down into steaks. And the prices on them are really good. So if Restaurant Depot merger happens and prices go up, is Costco another fail safe for chefs to use?

• 17:46Joe Flamm?

  Yeah.

• 17:46Adrienne Cheatham?

  In the, in the event of like needing a delivery?

• 17:49Joe Flamm?

  And I think a lot do. Like, there's one by me that's like a business centric one. I forget what they call it. They have a different name for it. And I think like the only difference is like, I think they don't sell alcohol.

• 18:01Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay.

• 18:02Joe Flamm?

  They have a ton of stuff because like a lot of people shop there who own like small shops. So like huge packs of like candy, gum, chips, like all that stuff. Like, if you wanted to start a bodega tomorrow, you could go to this Costco at 71st and State Road and spend 10 grand.

• 18:18Adrienne Cheatham?

  And set up everything.

• 18:20Joe Flamm?

  Like with the shelves.

• 18:21Adrienne Cheatham?

  Wow.

• 18:22Joe Flamm?

  You know, the cooler is everything. Like, you could do it. But it's also interesting because like, I think like the different ones here at least, like depending on like where it is and what's around it, you see different things. Like, like over there, you know, there's a heavier kind of like Middle Eastern population. So it's like, they have whole lambs at that one. Or like you can't buy whole lambs at the one on 16th and Ashland, which is closer to Chinatown. So they have like a lot more of like, you know, you'll see like sliced skin on pork belly.

• 18:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, like the thin cut, like for hot pot or?

• 18:50Joe Flamm?

  Yeah, like more of the like Asian style like barbecue stuff, whether like Korean, Chinese, whatever. Like they'll have kalbi, they'll have the thin slices of like chuck roll for shabu shabu or hot pot or whatever. So it is really interesting, like how do they adapt to markets as such a giant, giant footprint?

• 19:10Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right. I mean, it's, it's really great that they do that. I did not know that they kind of tailor their stores to their market, but that makes a lot of sense because in the Costco here, it's in East Harlem, but there are so many diverse communities in New York. So they have a small kosher section. They have a small like Asian section. They have a small Greek section. So they had all these things that I was really surprised to see in addition to, you know, an e-bike. Because there are so many delivery apps in New York also. Like, delivery, there is like one e-bike for every two people in New York, damn near, it feels like sometimes. And they sell them at Costco. Because that is such a huge part of the economy is people buying e-bikes

• 19:53Adrienne Cheatham?

  to be able to get on these delivery apps and get a job and do deliveries. So, I mean, I guess they really do cater to their markets. Another thing that I saw, though, was like VitaPreps. They have Vitamix blenders there and KitchenAid stand mixers. A six quart KitchenAid for like $3.99, $399. And I was like, dear God, why would you order from anywhere else besides Costco?

• 20:20Joe Flamm?

  You just gotta go there. It's just like a crazy place. So it's like, and if you've never been, you know, you've never been, but like going on a weekend is like.

• 20:27Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh, I went on a Tuesday night after work and then I went again on a Wednesday morning because you were heading. And I was like, oh, I'm gonna go back to Costco and we can have breakfast in the food court virtually. And that was so funny because Tuesday night was packed. There was not an empty seat in the food court. There, I mean, people had huge carts. I'm like, how is everybody here so late on a Tuesday night? I could not imagine what weekends are like. It's, it would be insane. I, I don't want that. I don't want that.

• 20:57Joe Flamm?

  It's insanity.

• 21:05Adrienne Cheatham?

  Okay. So as a chef, though, what are some things you have purchased for your restaurants from Costco?

• 21:13Joe Flamm?

  Honestly, the, the number one thing, if I said the thing I purchased the most at Costco for the restaurants, it's treats for my cooks. It's like, I go there like, like every New Year's Eve, I'll go and I'll get like four cases of Gatorade, four cases of Red Bulls, four cases of candy, four cases of chips.

• 21:30Adrienne Cheatham?

  Wow.

• 21:30Joe Flamm?

  And like drop off like a kit at each restaurant of like, here's your Gatorades, here's your energy drinks, here's your chips, here's your, you know, candy to get you through a really long service tonight.

• 21:40Adrienne Cheatham?

  That's so nice.

• 21:41Joe Flamm?

  Um, but I've bought, cause like you can buy the big, bigger primal cut. So I bought like whole rib roast from there. Um, Pismos, whole tenderloins.

• 21:49Adrienne Cheatham?

  Wow.

• 21:50Joe Flamm?

  From there when I needed to, like disposables. And some of them have where you can buy like fryer oil, like.

• 21:56Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yes.

• 21:57Joe Flamm?

  Like a proper box of fryer oil.

• 21:59Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, they have the restaurant style.

• 22:02Joe Flamm?

  Cause like, if you gotta go to a grocery store and buy canola oil, it's like, you are having the worst day of your life.

• 22:06Adrienne Cheatham?

  You're gonna have to buy like a million small oils to equal one box of fryer oil.

• 22:11Joe Flamm?

  And you, and you look like, people are like, did this person like figure out a new drug to cook at home that they're buying this much oil? You know what I mean? Like you look weird and suspicious. They're like, why are you doing this?

• 22:20Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah. Why do you have a cart full of oil?

• 22:23Joe Flamm?

  Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, why are you a dude in the store by yourself, looking kind of dirty, coming from a kitchen, buying all this oil? Like, you know, I'm gonna call the cops.

• 22:31Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah. I saw the fryer oil there and in private work, there is a lot of use. Like I will be going to Costco to buy things like extra virgin olive oil at good prices because I go through so much. They had some like kits of pans, like non-stick pans, like maybe not for restaurant use, but like the Tefal brand, great for home use. And I cook in somebody's home. So like, I would go back and get my pans from there for that. There are certain things that I think Costco is definitely doing right when it comes to both supplying the industry and individuals.

• 23:08Joe Flamm?

  I think it's one of those places where it's like, it's really fun to go to. They're fun to go to in other markets. You know what I mean? As much as like chefs, we focus on the hyper local, going to these little mom and pop shops. I think it is one of the great big box stores where it's like, you're like, yeah, they're actually doing it right. And this kind of rules. And this is really fun. And like, you know, it's like, I've never taken anyone there who's been like, I don't like this.

• 23:31Adrienne Cheatham?

  What is, okay. So we talked about what you've purchased for the restaurants. Personally, Joe Flamm, what is the weirdest thing you've impulse bought at Costco? It wasn't on your list. It wasn't something you went in thinking you would buy, but you absolutely had to have it when you saw it?

• 23:49Joe Flamm?

  Man, uh, it's usually something weird. The kid's fine. You know, where you're like, all of a sudden it's like, how did I buy an 11 pack of squirt guns?

• 23:59Joe Flamm?

  You know, but like, and it's like, and I have the problem of like, you know, I'll be with one of them and they'll be like, yo, like, we should really get this. And I'm like, you're so right. You're so right. Like, you know, what would make this Thursday better is having 12 squirt guns. So like have a battle royale in the backyard right now. Like this will go perfect.

• 24:22Adrienne Cheatham?

  Call the neighbors.

• 24:24Joe Flamm?

  Yeah, exactly. It's like, well, I just bought, you know, two pork shoulders to smoke. So like, yeah, we might as well have a squirt gun fight while this is going on.

• 24:32Adrienne Cheatham?

  That is hilarious. So one thing that I know.

• 24:34Joe Flamm?

  I bought a TV from there.

• 24:36Adrienne Cheatham?

  They, the electronic section blew my mind. I was literally like, whole, they have, they have Apple computers. They've got MacBooks.

• 24:43Joe Flamm?

  I walked in and I bought a TV from there one day and I felt super cool. I don't know why. I was just like, I'm just here for a TV.

• 24:50Adrienne Cheatham?

  I saw a lady walk out with a folding table and a two gallon container of kimchi. I was like, I want to go wherever she's going.

• 24:57Joe Flamm?

  Hell yeah.

• 24:58Adrienne Cheatham?

  She's my, she's my new guide in life.

• 25:00Joe Flamm?

  Take me with you, Auntie.

• 25:01Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right. She literally brought a big suitcase on wheels to pack and all I saw her put in was like two gallon containers of kimchi. And then she had a folding table in the other hand while she wheeled her suitcase full. I was like, this woman has a plan in life and I need to be like her. She does. So my family buys seafood a lot from there. Cause every Christmas we make huge pots of gumbo. And again, we make Cajun style gumbo, not Creole. We make chicken and dewy and seafood all in there together. So king crab legs, there's no better price than Costco. So that is absolutely.

• 25:42Joe Flamm?

  Yeah. My aunt used to buy them for, for my uncle Ozzy. He's from Norway and she would just buy them like the king crabs are super good.

• 25:49Adrienne Cheatham?

  That's crazy. So, I mean, Costco is worldwide. They are really killing it in the retail space. They've got to be one of the largest retailers around the world. And I didn't know, we just found this out. Sean, our producer told us that they started in the Seattle area or Washington.

• 26:07Joe Flamm?

  Yeah. That Kirkland brand, Kirkland is like an eastern suburb of Seattle or something.

• 26:11Adrienne Cheatham?

  Blew my mind. I've seen Kirkland signature on these products for years and I did not know where it came from. And we just found out, little nugget of info that Kirkland is a suburb of Seattle and it's named after where their first warehouse was.

• 26:27Joe Flamm?

  You know, and it's wild that they like made a house brand cool. Cause you remember like, remember like in, in like grade school, it's like, if somebody came to school and like, they didn't have like, you know, it's like, they have like a president's choice soda.

• 26:41Adrienne Cheatham?

  Oh my God.

• 26:42Joe Flamm?

  Choice.

• 26:43Adrienne Cheatham?

  President's choice. Yeah. You would get talked about. You would get clowned in the lunchroom.

• 26:47Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? It's like.

• 26:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  Off brand Oreos.

• 26:49Joe Flamm?

  Yes. Yes. You know what I mean? You had the jewel brand. They were like, you know, the, the O's or like whatever.

• 26:55Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right. The Aldi brand.

• 26:56Joe Flamm?

  The tuxedos. That's what they were called. Remember? Those I think were the, were the Aldi brands. They were the tuxedos, like instead of the Oreos.

• 27:04Adrienne Cheatham?

  The fact that you remember this.

• 27:06Joe Flamm?

  Like because it was like, you know what I mean? Like people said stuff to you about it. And, and like that, like Costco made a house brand cool, where people are drinking a house brand tequila. And it's not like, oh, it's like you go in fancy houses. I wouldn't cook in nice houses, man. And they're drinking Kirkland vodka.

• 27:26Adrienne Cheatham?

  And Kirkland, my sister and I call the, um, the tequila, we call it Costco amigos because their anejo is good. Like.

• 27:34Joe Flamm?

  That's what I'm saying. Like they made a house brand cool. It's just wild. It's just wild to think that they did that. That's the most impressive thing to me is like that you made, you know what I mean? Like a house brand cool when it was like always, like you see people walking around in Kirkland sweatshirt. It's like, oh yeah, I bought this from Costco. Where it's like, you know what I mean? When we were in grade school, it's like, bro, was that like, did you get that sweatshirt from Sam's Club? And it's like, no.

• 27:56Adrienne Cheatham?

  No.

• 27:58Joe Flamm?

  You know what I mean? Cause it was like, whatever brand had just gone out. It was like when Fila went, you know what I mean? Up?

• 28:02Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yes.

• 28:03Joe Flamm?

  And it was like, nobody wanted to wear Fila anymore. And then it was like, all of a sudden I had three Fila sweatshirts from Sam's Club.

• 28:11Adrienne Cheatham?

  And everybody knew why.

• 28:12Joe Flamm?

  Yeah. It was six dollars.

• 28:15Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right, right. And low key, everybody else had them. They were just too embarrassed to wear them to school.

• 28:19Joe Flamm?

  Right.

• 28:20Adrienne Cheatham?

  Everybody else's parents bought them.

• 28:21Joe Flamm?

  Fila sweatshirt.

• 28:22Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right. You'd be the coolest kid on the block. That's like the beauty of Costco. So it's done so much there. And I'm sure there's gotta be like, bad parts to Costco. And you know, give me a couple of years in this relationship and maybe I'll, I'll see some bad things. But for now.

• 28:38Joe Flamm?

  All you gotta do is go there on a Sunday.

• 28:40Adrienne Cheatham?

  Sunshine and roses.

• 28:41Joe Flamm?

  Oh, it'll change your relationship with it. You, you go there on a Sunday and you'll be like, it's, it's depot on a Sunday level of like, what have I done with my life that I got myself into a situation where this is where I need to be right now?

• 28:55Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah. Sundays are not meant for Costco.

• 28:57Joe Flamm?

  Because it'll be like 200 parents and like a thousand children. And you're like, is this a school?

• 29:02Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right, right. It's like, just entertain them at the food court while we do the shopping. It's like auntie sitting in the food court with the kids while the parents go get the stuff they need. But that's the thing. Like you go in there for something and then you see a bargain on other stuff. And so that is kind of the model for some of these big, big box stores. You see, I, I normally buy like CeraVe or, you know, a lotion like that or a Vino. And I'll spend $25 because I have eczema. I need a very specific lotion. And I'll spend $25 on a tub or container that'll get me a month and a half to two months. And it's 25 bucks. That's not cheap for lotion. Don't get me wrong. But I don't need lotion,

• 29:47Adrienne Cheatham?

  but I go into Costco and they have two for 30. So I could spend 22 to 25 bucks.

• 29:56Joe Flamm?

  The five gallon bucket.

• 29:57Adrienne Cheatham?

  Right. And.

• 29:58Joe Flamm?

  The pickle bucket of a Vino.

• 30:00Adrienne Cheatham?

  And you, you wind up spending a little bit more than you planned. Like in, in my, in my mind, I'm like, I spend 25 bucks on lotion, but I see 30 bucks and I get two. So my aggregate cost will be a little bit more than I planned on spending.

• 30:16Joe Flamm?

  That's, that's Midwest. That's, that's that Midwest in you, girl. You're like, I gotta get it for the winter. Gotta survive the winter on lotion.

• 30:23Adrienne Cheatham?

  I don't, I want to be able to not leave the house if a blizzard hits. That's always like in the back of my mind. And like Brita filters, I usually buy a pack of two or maybe three at a time. I walked out of there with a pack of 10 Brita filters. Why? Because the price per filter was so much less when you buy more. So yes, it's more than I planned on spending at one time, but I feel like I'm saving money. And that's kind of the model of these stores.

• 30:53Joe Flamm?

  Well, I think it just goes to show, at the end of the day, the one thing we can agree on is Costco rips. And it's just awesome.

• 31:02Adrienne Cheatham?

  Mm-hmm. I'm, I'm a newly converted citizen. I'm a newly converted chef. I will be shopping at Costco for personal and professional needs.

• 31:12Joe Flamm?

  Okay. I think like the next thing we need though, is that next time you're in France, you need to bake a Costco France.

• 31:18Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yes.

• 31:19Joe Flamm?

  I think it's what the listeners need. I think it's what the people need. But I think we need Adrian goes to Costco.

• 31:27Joe Flamm?

  This is like really the next step of this age.

• 31:29Adrienne Cheatham?

  Yeah, that's, that's absolutely it. Joe, I mean, I'm glad I came over to the other side.

• 31:35Joe Flamm?

  Glad you came to the side. And I think Chef's Cut Nation, you gotta let us know this week, craziest Costco impulse purchase in the comments.

• 31:44Adrienne Cheatham?

  Was it a?

• 31:44Joe Flamm?

  I want to see, I want to see who, who bought the biggest wireless thing at Costco? Who bought the Costco sauna? I need to know.

• 31:51Adrienne Cheatham?

  The cold plunge. Right.

• 31:52Joe Flamm?

  That's it. That's it. All right, H.

• 31:54Adrienne Cheatham?

  It's been a blast. I'll see you at the food court.

• 31:56Joe Flamm?

  See you at the food court. Send me a hot dog.

• 32:02Adrienne Cheatham?

  All right. That's it for this episode of the Chef's Cut. Head to the comments to tell us your favorite Costco menu items and don't forget to subscribe on YouTube and follow us on IG. For Joe Flamm, I'm Adrian Cheatham and this has been the Chef's Cut. Life beyond the past.