Costco Food Court Rules Every Shopper Should Know

Visiting the food court is a time-honored tradition during any Costco trip. Whether you go before or after your journey around the temple of bulk-buy goods (or you stop mid-shop for a quick refuel), you know that you'll be getting some tasty food at a bizarrely reasonable price. The first version of the Costco food court launched in 1984 in San Diego, and back then it was just a simple hot dog stand. Since then, it's grown to turn into a kind of restaurant in and of itself, with a range of foods (some of which have flopped and vanished) and its own set of rules that you should try to follow.

In typical Costco fashion, a lot of these rules are unspoken — Costco doesn't like to publicize much about how you should act in its food courts — but over time, frequent diners have figured them out. Some rules, like having a membership card to eat there or ordering your food while you pay for your shopping, may seem simple but are frequently forgotten about. Others, like how to order and pick up your food or how to pay, can constantly change. Ready to nail your food court experience? We've got all the rules you need to know.

Costco is famously a members-only store, and if you want to shop there you'll need to stump up the $65 yearly charge to do so. Generally speaking, it's traditionally been pretty hard to get into the store without showing your membership card. When it comes to the food court, though, that wasn't always the case. You've actually always needed a membership to eat in the food court, but prior to 2020 Costco wasn't especially strict on enforcing that rule.

However, that all changed just before the COVID-19 pandemic started in full, when Costco stated that customers needed a membership if they wanted to eat its hot dogs. Despite this statement, it's fair to say that they didn't get much hotter on checking people's cards until a couple of years later. In 2024 signs started appearing in Costcos around the country stating that active memberships would indeed be required to buy food items, and folks began reporting that scanning their Costco card in the ordering kiosk became mandatory to purchase meals. The days of sneaking through the exit are over: If you want to eat here, you'll need to be ready with your card.

Cooking pizza anywhere takes time, and the same is true at Costco's food court. While the employees in the food court are pretty good at churning out its pizzas fairly quickly, they still generally take around 15 minutes to make (it takes a while to make a food court pizza taste that good), and may even take longer if you're ordering at a busy time. That's why it's always a good idea to order slightly ahead of time to ensure that your pizza is ready when you want it. This may not work at every store, but if you get lucky with an employee who's willing to help out, you can request that they put your pizza in the oven at a specific time. Therefore, if you work out how long your shopping will take and order at the food court before you start, you can arrive to a freshly cooked pizza to chow down on after you're done.

If you're making a trip to Costco specifically for its pizza, you can also call ahead to order it. This trick, which is listed on the Costco website as one of its membership tips, allows you to bypass the line and avoid waiting around for ages. Bear in mind, though, that you may not be able to request a specific time that it's ready, and so you might want to hold off calling until just before you're ready to drive over.

The food court at Costco can be a confusing and somewhat overwhelming place, and it only gets more complicated as time goes on. In the past things were fairly simple: You just queued, ordered, paid, waited for your order number to be called out, and then ate. However, more recently it's changed up its ordering process. When combined with the introduction of its self-service kiosks, it's made things a little more convoluted than you might think.

That's why it's crucial to follow the correct process when you order and collect your food. Here's what you do: First, you tap in your order on the kiosk and pay for your grub. You'll be given a receipt, which you then need to present to the person at the counter, after waiting in line to do so. The person behind the counter will then prepare your order there and then — unless you're getting a pizza, in which case you'll have to go and wait at a separate window.

It all sounds a little complicated, and to be honest, we're not quite sure exactly why Costco made this change. However, it does ensure that you don't miss your order being called out. Just hold on to that receipt, folks: You lose it, and you may have to pay again.

Paying by card is pretty standard everywhere these days, and at the Costco food court things are no different. In a lot of places it's still possible to pay by cash, but it's quickly becoming impractical. Back in the day, everyone used to order their food from the cashier, but Costco has largely changed its service style to the kiosk-based system that you now find in fast food restaurants across the country. Rather than ask a human to process your order, you do it yourself — and those kiosks don't take cash.

This definitely makes things quicker and more streamlined, but it can also be really annoying for folks who would rather pay in cash. The cash registers can now often be unmanned, with stores diverting their employees to work elsewhere. Therefore, we'd highly recommend taking your credit card with you to Costco to avoid any unnecessary delays in ordering your food. It may not be your preferred way of paying, but it'll definitely help you eat more quickly.

The words "free refill" are among the most beautiful in the English language, and Costco's food court seems to know this too. When you order one of its sodas (which used to be Pepsi, before the store switched to stocking Coca-Cola products), the drink comes with a free refill for you to utilize at your leisure. This includes both full-fat and diet drinks, and you'll also get a refill if you order a soda in combination with one of its other items, like the famous $1.50 hot dog.

It is worth bearing in mind, though, that the word listed on the menu is "refill," not "refills." Costco's subtle phrasing here is telling about how it wants you to act: The store likely doesn't want you to keep heading up to the soda fountain and grabbing endless amounts of drinks. If you do, it's unlikely that anyone will enforce it particularly rigorously, unless you're pouring yourself a ridiculous amount of drinks. However, we think it's good etiquette not to overdo things, so maybe just stick to the one.

It's tempting to treat the Costco food court as a separate entity from the store itself, but it's important to remember that they're closely connected. Therefore, you won't find one open without the other. Costco food courts are designed to feed the customers inside the store, and as such, they generally have the same opening times as the store. This means that it'll usually be open from 10:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays, and 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sundays.

This is good news if you need assurance that you can eat whenever you want when shopping, but it's important to remember that this doesn't mean that you can order until the very last minute. Some places specify that last orders in the food court are 15 minutes before the store closes, so that you don't end up sitting in there and eating after everything's shut, and so that the employees can begin closing things down and getting home. If your local store doesn't designate that you do that, we think it's good etiquette to try to order in good time (and, of course, to avoid ordering some items at all costs). Don't be the guy who sits there keeping everyone working for longer than they should be.

This little-known rule, which also doubles as a food court hack, is one of our absolute favorites. Not a lot of people know that the food court itself isn't the only place you can order food: You can also do so when you're paying for the items that you've just picked up in the store. Before you pay for your groceries, ask the cashier if they can put through the food court items you want. You can then just head straight to the food court with your receipt and pick the items up at the window without having to wait for ages in another queue.

Crucially, though, don't be surprised if you try this at your Costco and it doesn't work. Some shoppers have reported that this clever bypass is no longer available, and that the introduction of self-service kiosks has put a stop to it. Others have also mentioned that this may only work for hot food items and beverages, so if you're getting something cold, it may not be possible to order ahead.

If you've ever been to a Costco food court at peak times, you'll know how crowded and stressful it can be there. It gets even more irritating to navigate it when there are carts all over the place. One annoying habit of many customers is to bring their carts directly into the food court and then leave them in the middle of the aisles, getting in the way of everyone trying to get around them. Well, we don't need to tell you that these carts are huge, folks — and not only is this poor etiquette, but it's also deeply inconsiderate towards wheelchair users or people who might have mobility issues. It's no surprise that doing this has caused arguments between customers in the past.

That's why one key rule you need to follow is to make sure your cart is out of the way. Ideally, you should leave it outside the food court entirely, or else push it against one wall. You can still keep an eye on it from where you're eating, but it won't obstruct anyone's ability to get to their table. If you must keep it with you, though, we recommend parallel parking your cart against your table, so that people have space to get past. Just make sure that you're leaving enough room for people to move around it; Costco's food court layout can be quite crowded, even without adding carts to the mix. 

Costco food courts have often faced accusations of being, shall we say, a little dirty. Customers have flocked to Reddit to ask fellow shoppers whether their own Costco branches have food court tables littered with trash or old food, to which they've answered in the affirmative. Well, you know who's the source of that mess? Probably a lot of the customers who complain about it. You see, Costco food courts aren't table service, and the employees frequently just don't have the time to do as thorough a clean as they'd like. More often than not, they're juggling other priorities and stretched enough as it is.

That's why one of the biggest unspoken rules in the Costco food court is to clean up after yourself. Although Costco employees do their best to keep on top of things, doing the simple task of picking up your trash and disposing of it, or wiping the crumbs off your table, will go a long way. You're not just doing it for the employees who work there, either (although that would be reason enough): You're also doing it for the person who eats at your table next. It's common courtesy, folks.

It doesn't seem very logical, does it? To head to a food court when it's packed with people, hoping that you'll get the best food of the day? Well, when it comes to Costco, that's one rule you should definitely follow. Costco is well aware that peak periods like lunch and dinnertime will see an influx of people, and it both staffs its food courts appropriately during these times and also ensures that its food is flying out of the kitchen. As such, your dish won't be sitting under a heat lamp for hours, waiting for someone to come and buy it: It'll likely be made fresh, then and there.

If you don't want to head in during a busy period, though, or you're looking to buy fresh food to eat later, then it can be a good idea to head in early. Costco's food court generally won't have food ready right when it opens, but if you go around half an hour after that (so that's about 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday, or 10:30 a.m. on a weekday), then you'll catch the first batch of the day just after it's cooked. It'll taste as good as it looks.