The Newest Costco Food Court Item Feels Like A Joke—But Is It?

Has the Costco food court gone too far?

Something is up with Costco. After months of giving us (and other Costco fans) what we had been asking for—from resurrecting fan favorites to bringing beloved international menu items stateside—things have taken a turn for the unexpected. Last week, savvy shoppers noticed not one but several new items in the Costco food court. Now, another menu item has seemingly dropped, and it has us truly puzzled. We couldn't help but wonder...is Costco trolling us? Here's what you need to know.

Is Newest Costco Food Court Sandwich Really a Peanut Butter & Jelly?

We first noticed the new item on the Reddit fan forum /r/Costco. User DGCA3 posted a photo with the caption "Spot the new food court item." Behold:

Is it possible? Has the Costco food court introduced a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? As many other Reddit users pointed out in the thread, the PB & J cost more than a hot dog or a slice of pizza. Was Costco trying to introduce a kids meal to the food court?

"$3? That isn’t very “Costco” of them," replied one commenter.

Another wrote, "Costco about to become my elementary school cafeteria with hexagonal pizza and breakfast for lunch."

"They better lovingly kiss me on the forehead for a $3 PB&J," joked another commenter in the thread.

Well, we've got good and bad news. The good news is, despite ever-rising prices and recent Costco policy changes, this one was a hoax. Yes, the user who originally posted the photo to Reddit admitted to the photoshop job. The bad news is Costco will not be handing out pecks on the forehead and hair tousles any time soon.

So it turns out Costco was not the troller, but the trollee—but why are people picking on the big box store? Especially its self-proclaimed biggest fans? It all started with a (real) new sandwich that recently rolled out in Costco food courts nationwide.

Customers Don't Like Costco's New Roast Beef Sandwich

It turns out the PB & J post was meant as a joke response to the new(ish) Roast Beef Sandwich. As we reported last week, Costco customers have been up in arms, and not over the sandwich itself—which, according to many reviews, tastes fine, albeit a bit dry—but over the price. At $10, many were quick to point out the single sandwich costs as much as an entire 18" pizza or two Costco rotisserie chickens.

Costco's food court items are famously a loss leader for the big box store, and priced as such. Which is probably why, at $10, the new sandwich struck customers and fans as out of the ordinary. Of course, it's still a good deal in the grander scheme of things; "The same thing at Panera though is $28.50," commented one Reddit user. But when the other food court menu items are all $2-$5, a $10 price tag is something to chew on—and even harder to swallow.

After seeing the strong reaction to the Roast Beef Sandwich on the Reddit thread, user DGCA3 thought they'd have some fun.

"After seeing that roast beef sandwich, I wanted to go in another direction and mock up something super plain," they wrote in response to someone realizing the photo had, indeed, been fabricated in Photoshop. Needless to say, they got a response—more than 500 comments in a matter of days.

So while Costco will not be adding a PB & J to the menu (at least that we know of), you can certainly DIY your own PB & J sandwiches with Kirkland's various bakery options for bread and well-priced nut butters. Now if only Costco would bring back the Combo Pizza, that would silence the Reddit haters once and for all.