Secret menus make fans of fast-food chains feel like insiders, the ones who are more in the know than the average person eating there.
Some secrets, however, are better kept than others.
Starbucks (SBUX), for example, has embraced popular items from its secret menu and put them on the regular menu. One, "Pink Drink," has become a staple that the coffee chain recently brought into its ready-to-drink grocery business.
Other chains may teach their staffs how to handle secret-menu requests, but they try to keep them secret. In many cases, that's because the menu hacks shared on social media create a burden for the kitchens at the affected restaurants.
That's what has happened with Chipotle (CMG), which has pushed back against certain secret-menu ordering hacks by making them unavailable via the Mexican chain's app.
Costco (COST) may not seem like an obvious contender to have a secret menu. The membership-based warehouse club has a very limited selection in its food court.
But one menu hack, using two of those items, has gone viral and you likely want to try it.
Patrick T. FALLON / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
Costco's Food-Court-Menu Hack: The 'Forbidden Glizzy'
The food court at Costco is built around pizza slices and its famous $1.50 hot-dog-and-soda combo. It also offers ice cream cones and something called a Chicken Bake, which is basically something between a calzone and a Hot Pocket.
That's not a lot of options to work with, but a menu hack, involving combining the well-loved hot dog and the Chicken Bake, has gone viral.
It's known informally as a "Forbidden Glizzy," and a Reddit thread both talks about the mashup and shares instructions on how to make it,:
- Step 1. Purchase one chicken bake and one hot dog combo.
- Step 2. Bite both ends of the chicken bake to allow for smooth insertion.
- Step 3. Derobe the hot dog from its warm bun.
- Step 4. Slide the flaccid hot dog into the creamy interior of the chicken bake.
- Step 5. Enjoy your monstrosity
A Chicken Bake is made using Costco pizza dough that has been sprinkled with cheese. It contains baked chicken, Caesar dressing, green onions, provolone, parmesan, and mozzarella cheese as well as bacon.
Costco Will Always Hold Some Prices
Costco's food court and ready-to-eat options offer members a cheap meal or snack. That's actually a driver for people to keep their memberships, and it's why the company has taken extreme steps to sell rotisserie chicken for $4.99 by literally opening its own chicken farm.
The warehouse club has also made clear that it will never raise the price of the $1.50 hot-dog deal.
Costco has also made an effort to hold its prices on fresh food, according to comments Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti made during Costco's fiscal-first-quarter earnings call.
"I think, why we chose to do a little more there. We want to be the most competitive, and we can drive a lot of volume. And again, we're in it for the long term," he said.
"Fresh is one of those unique areas where prices on many items do change almost weekly on some of those items. If not sooner, if not more quickly. And so, our buyers are always looking at the, if you will, the supermarket ads, as well as the other warehouse club ads, not literally ads, but what the pricing is, and we react to that."
Earlier in the call, Galanti shared more thoughts on fresh-food pricing:
"Fresh foods was down. As you know, for the last couple of years, it's been particularly strong, and it's come down a little bit. In addition, we are looking to hold prices on some of those price points despite inflated costs in some of the fresh-food categories."
