Julia Child's Costco Food Court Favorite Is Probably Yours Too

Julia Child, affectionately known to Americans as the French Chef, was famous for many things. She was the first lady of French cooking in the United States, making French cuisine accessible to Americans. She was a TV chef long before Food Network was even a twinkle in a network executive's eye. Yet, proving that legends have a human side, Child was also fond of some surprisingly ordinary foods. For instance, the culinary queen liked to serve Goldfish crackers to her guests as hors d'oeuvres before Thanksgiving dinner. She also favored using Hellman's Real Mayonnaise when she wasn't making the condiment from scratch. When Child shopped at Costco — yes, she patronized ordinary stores! — her go-to snack was a hot dog from the Costco food court.

You may not fathom running into someone like Julia Child while doing something as prosaic as wholesale shopping. Setting that aside, there is something rather magical about Costco hot dogs, and that seems to be a popular opinion. The company sold almost 200 million of its renowned $1.50 dog/soda combos in 2023 alone.

While today it's a Kirkland Signature hot dog you'll find between the buns at a Costco food court, that wasn't the dog Julia Child and others of her generation enjoyed. Hebrew National was the original supplier of Costco's most famous grab-and-go food. It continued to be the top Costco dog — along with one other kosher hot dog company's product — until 2009, when the wholesale giant switched to using its own Kirkland brand dogs. Child passed away in 2004, which means the dogs she loved so much were likely those meaty Kosher beef goodies from Hebrew National, which Food Republic ranked among the best hot dog brands.

Today's Costco food court hot dogs in the U.S. are still made from beef like their early predecessors. In other countries, the Costco dogs are pork-based. Kirkland Signature products are noted for their quality, so knowing that the food court wieners are beef, and quality beef at that, makes the price all the more surprising.

Costco has a longstanding commitment to keeping its food court hot dogs $1.50 — the same exact cost as they were in the 1980s when Costco first began offering them. As of March 2025, that price holds steady, and the dogs are still served alongside a soda at no extra charge. Though rumors always seem to be in circulation that Costco is on the verge of raising the historic cost, execs from the company have reiterated that the time-honored price tag is in no danger.

An interesting fact about the food court dogs is that Costco itself manufactures them. The majority of the chain's Kirkland-branded products are purchased from outside suppliers and merely private-labeled with the Kirkland seal. When Costco decides something is important enough to be made in-house, it's kind of a big deal. When it comes to Costco's hot dogs, millions of shoppers can't be wrong: They're a very big deal, and Julia Child certainly agreed.