Costco's CEO Is Stepping Down. Will Its Food Court Hot Dog Prices Change?

Costco: you know the company, you love the company, you have probably at some point bought way, way, WAY too many croissants from the company in one go. Though we all fear change from time to time, change is now upon us: Craig Jelinek, the longtime CEO of Costco, is due to step down from his position, with the transition coming on January 1. He will be succeeded by current COO Ron Vachris, per CNBC. The change in leadership, while not a surprise, raises an important point. What's going to happen to Costco's signature hot dog deal? There's good news for fans of the combo: The price seems unlikely to change.

The transition has apparently been in the works for a while and was described by Costco as "the culmination of the long-standing succession plan." Vachris and Jelinek have been working on it for two years, as Costco's stock rocketed up in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company's stock is up 26% in 2023 alone as customers have flocked to the store in search of methods to combat food inflation, CNBC noted.

The company's hot dog deal is somewhat of a money-loser, as the price point has been kept the same since 1985. But it's also one of the company's signatures and a draw that brings people in. Remember that time Costco co-founder Jim Sinegal threatened to kill a company exec if they changed the price of the hot dog deal? CEO Craig Jelinek was the exec he threatened.

And in 2022, Costco made an announcement about keeping the hot dog combo price the same "a little longer, forever." If the company is to be believed, that was when the succession plan was already in full swing. 

COO (and soon-to-be CEO) Ron Vachris, meanwhile, has been with Costco for decades, just like Jelinek. The public backlash to changing the deal would be bad enough. But Sinegal likely also has Vachris's phone number — and he could threaten to kill him, too, if he tried to change it.