The Mesmerizing Way Costco Slices Its Food Court Pizzas
If you ever wait in Costco's long food court line, you might catch a peek through the window at a remarkable device in action. In order to cut perfectly equal-sized pizza slices, the kitchen staff use a peculiar looking tool. Known as a pizza cutting guide (sometimes called a fence), using the device results in uniform slices every time.
The flat, circular, metal gadget has three pairs of bars crisscrossing its width. The space in between forms a narrow channel just wide enough to fit a pizza cutting wheel. The jig gets placed on top of a pizza, and then an employee rolls a cutter through each of the slots, creating six identical slices. Doing this as soon as the hot pie comes out of the oven avoids the most common pizza cutting mistake.
@hudsonhancock4 tada 🎉 Costco pizza is the best I never knew have a cut it until I saw this and took a video. had to share it so cool.
Costco's pizzas are huge, measuring 18 inches in diameter. In comparison, an extra large from Domino's is 16 inches. Costco's are a bargain too, with a whole one costing just $9.95 and individual slices selling for $1.99 per piece. Those baked for dividing are cut into six giant slices while the pizzas that are sold whole are cut into 12 slices. To get those impeccably consistent straight lines, after using the pizza guide to cut six pieces, all the worker has to do is turn the guide so that its grooves line up over the middle of the already cut pieces. Another three passes with the wheel cutter transforms the first six slices into 12.
Same sized pizza slices every time
Costco is primarily a merchandise warehouse retailer that caters to its paid membership. Although it's not technically a restaurant, food services are a big part of its business. With over 600 locations in the U.S., it has become one of the largest pizza chains in the country, despite only offering two choices — cheese or pepperoni. And while taste is subjective, the company's pizza is generally accepted to be pretty good, especially considering its low price.
Given how many Costco food courts there are nationwide, that's a whole lot of pizzas that need slicing daily. The pizza guide not only makes the whole process fast and efficient, but it also enables new employees to do the job like a pro from day one. Of course, the gadget isn't used just at Costco and is useful for any sort of food establishment that serves large groups of people, from commercial kitchens to school cafeterias. It can be purchased online from Amazon as well as from restaurant supply stores and is available sized for six, eight, 10, and 12 slices.
It's not exclusive for use with just large groups either. Having one for your own kitchen would certainly be handy, and the tool can even be used for foods other than pizza — for example, fruit pies, quiches, or quesadillas. Whereas centuries-old mezzaluna rocker blade pizza cutters are nice for rustic-looking pizzas, they're not as accurate for creating the identically sized slices that the modern guide produces.