You're Overspending When You Buy Costco Pizza By The Slice

Like many things at its food court, Costco pizza is a steal at $9.95 for an 18-inch pie. The pie comes with 12 slices, which brings the cost to roughly 83 cents a slice. So why (as we publish this story) does a slice cost $1.99 in most areas?

Because the slice served when you buy it individually is double the size of a slice when you buy it by the pie. Thanks to a Costco pizza-cutting tool, each slice is identical in size. For whole pies, the grocery giant cuts each slice in half. So, if the slice you're buying for $1.99 is worth $1.66 when you buy the whole pizza, you're spending an extra 33 cents.

And that's fine. At $1.99, Costco's high-quality food court pizza slice is worth it. Costco is all about leveraging economies of scale to keep its prices lower, so it makes sense that it costs slightly more when you buy a single slice. Honestly, skipping the work you would have to do to find five more people to split a whole pizza with is worth the small amount of change.

Costco isn't the only place with a higher cost per slice when ordered individually. It's a pretty common practice found at pizzerias all over. When Pizza Hut got into the slice business, its markup was a whopping $1.33 per slice. The upcharge generally covers the added handling by employees to serve a single slice, the reheating of each slice, and the individual plating for that slice.

It helps that pizza generally tastes better at a restaurant than at home; the professionals have their processes down to a science to make the best pie possible. However, there are still some fun pizza recipes for cooking at home when you want to try your hand at it. In fact, you can get a lot of great baking supplies for cheap at Costco, and while you're at it on your way back to your car, why not grab a quick, convenient slice of pizza at the food court?