Costco Just Dropped A New Sundae, But It's Not Exactly What Shoppers Want

By Bobby Lewis
A close up of dessert items offered at the Costco food counter ZikG/Shutterstock

After (or before) a big day of shopping, many Costco customers like to stop by the food court for a snack or even a full meal. One of the most popular treats is the revolving ice cream sundae, featuring limited-time recipes that Costco regularly swaps out for new ones. And while customers are excited about the newest sundae, it's a bittersweet satisfaction that leaves many longing for something better.

Costco's Churro Caramel Sundae is a base of vanilla, chocolate, or swirled soft serve topped with a salted caramel drizzle and crunchy churro bites, available for $2.99. People are satisfied with its craveable cinnamon sweetness, but it understandably makes many of them miss Costco's churros.

On an Instagram reel about the new sundae, a comment with over 3,000 likes read, "We don't want bits of churros. We want the whole **** churros back!" Other commenters echoed similar sentiments, complaining that Costco would have the audacity to put bite-size churro pieces on top of ice cream but deny fans the full experience.

Churros are important to big box warehouse customers

A hand holding a sundae made with vanilla soft serve, salted caramel, and cubed churro bites costcohotfinds/Instagram

Churros first appeared at the Costco food court in the 1990s and had a long and successful run selling for just 99 cents each. But as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains worldwide, the original churro became one of the retired Costco food court items that should come back. And soon, it did. But it wasn't the same.

Costco brought churros back in 2021, but they were now twisted instead of straight, and many customers were not fans of the new flavor (or 50% price increase), instead longing for the original recipe. Despite making some inroads with consumers, by 2024, the twisted churros had slouched into becoming a relatively rare Costco food court item that flopped and vanished.

Whole churros have been gone from Costco for a while, and this new sundae understandably has fans feeling teased. And unfortunately, they can't even go to Costco's main rival for one. Sam's Club also discontinued its churro in 2024, and fans of that big-box warehouse club were similarly disappointed. The first store to see the error of its ways will please many die-hard customers.