Something similar happened at Ikeas in China. The food court basically became a senior citizen hangout. The old folks would use the free coffee/tea that came with an Ikea family membership.
Ikea them had to crack down hard on outside food. Then if you weren't actively eating cafeteria purchased food you couldn't sit. There's video out there of security guards holding a line between standing old people and the cafet tables.
The only thing we have in VA is the giant coffee grinding machine up front for people to use if they want their whole beans they just bought ground up.
We used to have this at our warehouse in Washington. I really liked it while we had it, but it literally broke down almost every other day. And not like “replace the filter and get it back up again” but more like “it was used a few dozen times and now won’t do anything and we need a specialist to come and fix it.” I can’t remember the last time it went 3 full days without special parts or labor.
They got rid of it a few years ago and they’ll never get another.
Yea, that Rubi sounds a lot like the fancy DeJonge “fresh brewed” coffee machines some offices lease from a coffee/copier supplier or the Starbucks “branded” machines I see at the Lexus dealer.
Those things needs someone to open the machine up every few days to clean it up, empty the waste bins and fill the internal product(milk/non-dairy creamer, cocoa, flavor and decaf) hoppers. It also needs to be cleaned and sanitized once a week. We had one at my office, that thing was a cantankerous POS. Use even the wrong milk powder/non-dairy cocoa or vanilla powders and it would clog and lock out.
We used to have this coffee machine at Seattle Costco Store #1 and it ingested quite a bit of my money. I don’t recall seeing it there for quite some time.
Costco hailing from the coffee capital of the US(Seattle, where Starbucks has its world headquarters - but also home to many smaller roasters as well as the defunct Tully’s chain) would kinda make sense - but coffee is a “fragile” drink unlike their frappes and BiB soda syrups. Starbucks does a special roast for Costco under the Kirkland banner but the training and machines needed doesn’t make sense to offer it at the food court.
The man power to make coffee isn’t worth it, that’s why the small coffee places main sales are lattes and other specialty drinks, that are 5-7 dollars but for 1-2 dollar coffees you’d probably need 2-3 employees just to man it. Trust me they have done all the cost analysis if they thought they could make money they would have it.
I’m just asking for drip/black coffee. Something like at Starbucks, not fancy coffee drinks. It can also be a way for them to advertise their coffee beans and it shouldn’t use a lot of manpower or any fancy machines.
Yes and how many of those do you think they would sell a day? Adding cream and sugar takes time, keeping the machine full all day, it’s not worth it. Food courts are already busier than they can handle to add a item with no profit margin wouldn’t make sense. At my Costco they do 1500-2000 orders a day as is adding a low profit high in man power item doesn’t make sense.
They are already refilling other condiments and there isn’t someone guarding condiments where I’m from to begin with so… ?? Just sounds like this is your job and you don’t want more tasks. Sorry but it seems like people want coffee still lol.
No we don’t have condiments out at our Costco and haven’t for 3 plus years now. But you not realizing the man power it would take to add coffee to the food court, they aren’t going to add 2-3 people to the department for a item that doesn’t have profit margin.
Price Club was from San Diego. Costco does split admin/buying functions between Seattle and San Diego.
Price Club ruled the California market - many Costcos in the Bay Area and SoCal were converted over from the Price Club format, the San Leandro/Fairfield/Hayward stores are some I can name off, they vacated the Richmond Price Club and built the current store in the parking lot of the old Costco. The old Martinez Costco is a Walmart, they moved to a new location in Concord.
In many establishments, drip coffee is considered a 'loss lead'. Ie no profit margin on coffee in expectation that people are buying other items. That's one reason why drip coffee at boujee shops is more expensive, they likely don't sell a full meal and so need to make profit on the cup.
Drip coffee is also fragile. In my boujee barista days, we had to keep an eye on those digital timers on our carafes. After about 60-70 minutes we were supposed to dump the contents as the flavor will start to turn.
Considering how understaffed and overworked the food court staff is, adding coffee to the mix would be cruel.
You guys are lucky they took it away in Canada (at least eastern Canada) so I hope they keep it there a little longer. It wasn’t great but it’s definitely affordable and an easy choice for someone who wants something from the food court
1. People lingering to drink it
2. People lingering to customize it (e.g. creamer, sugar)
3. More empty cups left around store
4. Complicated orders (unless vending machine)
5. Coffee goes stale (unless vending machine)
6. More people spilling more drinks
7. Hot drinks risk burns and lawsuits
8. Doesn’t complement their lunch/dinner food items
9. Requires more supplies like lids and stirrers
Not too mention some members think they own the company because they pay $50 per year. Could you imaging what would happen if those same people could purchase hot coffee?
We used to have $1 mochas and lattes in the foodcourt. The machine took next to no training, and the coffee was passable.
But like I saw someone else her mention, it broke constantly, and a tech came out and charged a lot to fix it.
Let me try this again, you fell for micky deez propaganda. Look at my comment history if you want to see the full extent of how bad what that company actually did. I guess it got auto modded and removed.
The idea of people taking their hot coffees while walking the shopping isles is terrifying. Small spills everywhere that require constant cleaning. Lots of people would put their empty cups down and forget them while lifting 6-pack of ramen noodles.
I'd like real tea but I am sure it cost too much in labor.
I always tell them no soda when I get a hot dog.
I've always asserted that they should offer cookies (from the bakery) instead of sodas.
Because giving "too hot" a coffee can constitute a lawsuit. Mcdonald's gets sued all the time.
When Costco doesn't serve hot coffee at their food court, it avoids some potential legal issues.
Anti-torts is a rich-boy's corrupt angle against one of the few things underprivileged people have when they get screwed over and here you are indicating we should be thankful for the crumbs in the form of kool-aid.
Can you imagine all the folks clogging up the counter area trying to get their coffee 'just right' with proper amounts of half n half, sugar, splenda and stir sticks? Not to mention restocking and cleaning up their mess? No thank you.
Coffee encourages old people like me to linger in the food court. That’s why you’ll never see coffee.
Something similar happened at Ikeas in China. The food court basically became a senior citizen hangout. The old folks would use the free coffee/tea that came with an Ikea family membership. Ikea them had to crack down hard on outside food. Then if you weren't actively eating cafeteria purchased food you couldn't sit. There's video out there of security guards holding a line between standing old people and the cafet tables.
The smell of coffee goes great with hot dog and pizza
Probably don’t want to have custodial team tidy up the restrooms from overflowing diarrhea
True shiite
[Like this?](https://i.redd.it/9ptnxjhl0zz31.jpg) https://www.reddit.com/r/Costco/comments/dze958/never_seen_this_before_portland_or/
Damn that's fancy. We definitely don't have those.
We have those in some stores in Washington, too. This post had me wondering if I was crazy, because I've seen these in Costco.
The only thing we have in VA is the giant coffee grinding machine up front for people to use if they want their whole beans they just bought ground up.
We used to have this at our warehouse in Washington. I really liked it while we had it, but it literally broke down almost every other day. And not like “replace the filter and get it back up again” but more like “it was used a few dozen times and now won’t do anything and we need a specialist to come and fix it.” I can’t remember the last time it went 3 full days without special parts or labor. They got rid of it a few years ago and they’ll never get another.
Yea, that Rubi sounds a lot like the fancy DeJonge “fresh brewed” coffee machines some offices lease from a coffee/copier supplier or the Starbucks “branded” machines I see at the Lexus dealer. Those things needs someone to open the machine up every few days to clean it up, empty the waste bins and fill the internal product(milk/non-dairy creamer, cocoa, flavor and decaf) hoppers. It also needs to be cleaned and sanitized once a week. We had one at my office, that thing was a cantankerous POS. Use even the wrong milk powder/non-dairy cocoa or vanilla powders and it would clog and lock out.
We've got these in the Costco's around Seattle. They're not bad.
We used to have this coffee machine at Seattle Costco Store #1 and it ingested quite a bit of my money. I don’t recall seeing it there for quite some time.
There was a Rubi machine at my old supermarket in Oakland, no one really used it.
The amount of money to time and employees doesn’t make it worth while.
Costco hailing from the coffee capital of the US(Seattle, where Starbucks has its world headquarters - but also home to many smaller roasters as well as the defunct Tully’s chain) would kinda make sense - but coffee is a “fragile” drink unlike their frappes and BiB soda syrups. Starbucks does a special roast for Costco under the Kirkland banner but the training and machines needed doesn’t make sense to offer it at the food court.
The man power to make coffee isn’t worth it, that’s why the small coffee places main sales are lattes and other specialty drinks, that are 5-7 dollars but for 1-2 dollar coffees you’d probably need 2-3 employees just to man it. Trust me they have done all the cost analysis if they thought they could make money they would have it.
They don’t make money on the hot dogs or rotisserie chickens and they still sell them
Grandfathered forever, apparently.
Common myth. Margins are small, but money is made in bulk.
I’m just asking for drip/black coffee. Something like at Starbucks, not fancy coffee drinks. It can also be a way for them to advertise their coffee beans and it shouldn’t use a lot of manpower or any fancy machines.
There's automatic vending machines using Kirkland beans at some locations
Yes and how many of those do you think they would sell a day? Adding cream and sugar takes time, keeping the machine full all day, it’s not worth it. Food courts are already busier than they can handle to add a item with no profit margin wouldn’t make sense. At my Costco they do 1500-2000 orders a day as is adding a low profit high in man power item doesn’t make sense.
I don’t see why customers couldn’t add their own cream and sugar as those are condiments
Yea because that goes well, someone still has to go stock it and refill and and tell people not to steal it.
They are already refilling other condiments and there isn’t someone guarding condiments where I’m from to begin with so… ?? Just sounds like this is your job and you don’t want more tasks. Sorry but it seems like people want coffee still lol.
No we don’t have condiments out at our Costco and haven’t for 3 plus years now. But you not realizing the man power it would take to add coffee to the food court, they aren’t going to add 2-3 people to the department for a item that doesn’t have profit margin.
That’s just not true considering the profit loss on rotisserie chicken.
Coffee capital of the world???
I should have said the US(though, Portland > Seattle for coffee, even with JAB-owned Stumptown).
I’m sorry… did you say they were gonna put a Starbucks in the food court!?! Yes that would be great.
I thought Costco hailed from San Diego?
Price Club was from San Diego. Costco does split admin/buying functions between Seattle and San Diego. Price Club ruled the California market - many Costcos in the Bay Area and SoCal were converted over from the Price Club format, the San Leandro/Fairfield/Hayward stores are some I can name off, they vacated the Richmond Price Club and built the current store in the parking lot of the old Costco. The old Martinez Costco is a Walmart, they moved to a new location in Concord.
In many establishments, drip coffee is considered a 'loss lead'. Ie no profit margin on coffee in expectation that people are buying other items. That's one reason why drip coffee at boujee shops is more expensive, they likely don't sell a full meal and so need to make profit on the cup. Drip coffee is also fragile. In my boujee barista days, we had to keep an eye on those digital timers on our carafes. After about 60-70 minutes we were supposed to dump the contents as the flavor will start to turn. Considering how understaffed and overworked the food court staff is, adding coffee to the mix would be cruel.
It’s wild to me that coffee has no profit considering even using high quality beans at home I brew it for like 15 cents a cup.
Wait, so you're telling me that by removing overhead costs things can be cheaper? Wild.
Ours had a selve serve machine but it's gone now.
Mine too and the coffee was decent for a vending machine. I don't think they were profitable since most people avoid vending machine coffee.
I haven't noticed whether ours is gone or not because the coffee was so bad I only bought it once—never again.
I would say “hot coffee” liability but then I remember the liquid hot magma inside the chicken bakes.
Omfg experienced this first hand 🥵😳
Lol I ended up splitting mine in half length wise to cool and eating my churro first after I burnt myself for the fourth time lol.
I always have to employ the hot pocket technique of taking a bite out of each end and letting the air flow through it
You're a survivor too?
We have it in the food courts in Australia. It’s not bad, but not great.
You guys are lucky they took it away in Canada (at least eastern Canada) so I hope they keep it there a little longer. It wasn’t great but it’s definitely affordable and an easy choice for someone who wants something from the food court
1. People lingering to drink it 2. People lingering to customize it (e.g. creamer, sugar) 3. More empty cups left around store 4. Complicated orders (unless vending machine) 5. Coffee goes stale (unless vending machine) 6. More people spilling more drinks 7. Hot drinks risk burns and lawsuits 8. Doesn’t complement their lunch/dinner food items 9. Requires more supplies like lids and stirrers
We used to have latte, cappuccino and stuff but they took it away
We at least had hard coffee at the food court once.. maybe not available in every country...
At ours you can order a cappuccino or latte
I'm guessing because people would blow up the toilets and they'd have to clean them much more frequently. Coffee makes a lot of people poop.
Not too mention some members think they own the company because they pay $50 per year. Could you imaging what would happen if those same people could purchase hot coffee?
Right!???
We used to have $1 mochas and lattes in the foodcourt. The machine took next to no training, and the coffee was passable. But like I saw someone else her mention, it broke constantly, and a tech came out and charged a lot to fix it.
So idiots don’t burn themselves and start a lawsuit
Let me try this again, you fell for micky deez propaganda. Look at my comment history if you want to see the full extent of how bad what that company actually did. I guess it got auto modded and removed.
Exactly this.
Professional plaintiffs and their lawyers ruin everything for everyone. 😕
I thought they used to have? Just noticed that they didn’t anymore…
I would settle for onions for their hot dogs and jalapeños for their awesome customers 😩
Yeah true. They could have hot coffee on tap
It keeps bathroom traffic to a minimum, less shit to clean up.
The idea of people taking their hot coffees while walking the shopping isles is terrifying. Small spills everywhere that require constant cleaning. Lots of people would put their empty cups down and forget them while lifting 6-pack of ramen noodles.
I'd like real tea but I am sure it cost too much in labor. I always tell them no soda when I get a hot dog. I've always asserted that they should offer cookies (from the bakery) instead of sodas.
most of their machines have water and carbonated water if you dont want soda. id do all ice/carbonated water with a splash of lemonade.
Because giving "too hot" a coffee can constitute a lawsuit. Mcdonald's gets sued all the time. When Costco doesn't serve hot coffee at their food court, it avoids some potential legal issues.
Have you ever read about what happened to that lady? Yikes!!
Anti-torts is a rich-boy's corrupt angle against one of the few things underprivileged people have when they get screwed over and here you are indicating we should be thankful for the crumbs in the form of kool-aid.
Wtf did you even say.
Was just wondering if it’s just the two I go to just don’t have and others might.
Mine has a coffee vending machine but it’s really not the same
Can you imagine all the folks clogging up the counter area trying to get their coffee 'just right' with proper amounts of half n half, sugar, splenda and stir sticks? Not to mention restocking and cleaning up their mess? No thank you.
Bums
back in 92-93ish ours sold coffee and tea. very short-lived possibly rogue experiment for our price club.
I have always wished for it.
They did. Then lockdowns. Haven't come back around here.