"Real" Alaskan food

[kennicott]

If one is concerned over the price of food court type meals in Alaska, then try Costco. $1.50 for a large Kosher hot dog and big soda. There are two Costco's in Anchorage. Same prices as Seattle Costco's. There is a news article on the Anchorage Costco food court, albeit a few years old, like the article says though, the prices haven't changed since 1985.

 

Since I shop there all the time I notice a few new items and some missing, one is their polish sausage. Was the same price as  their Kosher hot dog, I'm not sure why the dropped it. Lot of complaining about that I hear in the lower 48 but I haven't heard that here and personally preferred the regular hot dog over their polish. https://www.adn.com/food-drink/article/dining-review-cheap-fast-and-filling-costco-food-court/2015/10/14/    

[CruiserBruce]

There weren't making money anymore on the Polish. I always preferred the Polish dog.

[terrydtx]

10 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

There weren't making money anymore on the Polish. I always preferred the Polish dog.

Me too, but the kosher hot dog is good as well. I have a Costco near where I live, I didn't  realize I could get real AK  food there, LOL

[Coral]

Our Sam's club brought back the Polish dog when Costco discontinued it.

 

Obviously - they (both Costco and Sam's Club) lose money on their hotdog and drink special.

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

Our Sam's club brought back the Polish dog when Costco discontinued it.

 

Obviously - they (both Costco and Sam's Club) lose money on their hotdog and drink special.

 

I am not sure that it is true they "obviously" lose money on the hot dog/drink combo. I follow Costco's business model and other financial stuff as closely as possible. I will agree their margin is very small...perhaps a penny or two per dog/soda. Understanding the volume they do, the fact they bake their own hot dog buns, have factories making their own hot dogs, and very exclusive deals with Pepsi (in most locations, but Coke in a few), helps understand how they do business.

 

It is also widely reported that Costco's profit is almost the exact same amount as the revenue from their annual memberships.

[Coral]

6 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

 

I am not sure that it is true they "obviously" lose money on the hot dog/drink combo. I follow Costco's business model and other financial stuff as closely as possible. I will agree their margin is very small...perhaps a penny or two per dog/soda. Understanding the volume they do, the fact they bake their own hot dog buns, have factories making their own hot dogs, and very exclusive deals with Pepsi (in most locations, but Coke in a few), helps understand how they do business.

 

It is also widely reported that Costco's profit is almost the exact same amount as the revenue from their annual memberships.

I saw an article where they said they lose money on the hot dog/drink combo.

[thinfool]

2 hours ago, Coral said:

I saw an article where they said they lose money on the hot dog/drink combo.

 

It is not uncommon for a business to claim they are losing money when they cannot or do not offer it for the same markup as their competition.

 

Losing money does not equal selling below cost.

[Coral]

1 minute ago, thinfool said:

 

It is not uncommon for a business to claim they are losing money when they cannot or do not offer it for the same markup as their competition.

 

Losing money does not equal selling below cost.

I wish I could find the article but it did indicate that they were selling it below cost. A long time ago I worked at a grocery store. We frequently had items that they sold for a loss when you first walked in. They often advertised these items - they figured people would buy the items and then have to walk through the rest of the store and they would make a profit on the other items.

 

I do have to say that Sam's Club's hot dogs and polish dogs are better than Costco's and they provide a larger drink at the same price. I doubt they have Sam's Club in Alaska. Sam's Club used to sell Nathan's dogs at their snack bar but I think recently changed. They used to have foil that said Nathan's and now they are using something else.

[thinfool]

3 minutes ago, Coral said:

I doubt they have Sam's Club in Alaska. 

 

Good call....a search indicates that all 3 Sam's in Alaska were closed in 2018.

[Coral]

3 minutes ago, thinfool said:

 

Good call....a search indicates that all 3 Sam's in Alaska were closed in 2018.

Yea - Costco definitely has the market in the NW.

 

Costco also loses money on their $4.99 chickens. Again, their goal is to get people to walk around the store and buy other things. Costco (through another company) is trying to open a chicken processing plant near where I live to exclusively process chickens for their stores for the $4.99 rotisserie chicken. It is a big deal here as all these farmers have to apply to raise chickens that will be processed at this new location. It is quite controversial so it is always in our news.

 

Again - this has absolutely nothing to do with Alaskan food.

Edited February 3, 2019 by Coral

[kennicott]

20 minutes ago, Coral said:

I do have to say that Sam's Club's hot dogs and polish dogs are better than Costco's and they provide a larger drink at the same price. I doubt they have Sam's Club in Alaska. Sam's Club used to sell Nathan's dogs at their snack bar but I think recently changed. They used to have foil that said Nathan's and now they are using something else.

As mentioned, Sam's is shuttered here now, but I had a Sam's membership for years, as well as Costco. Maybe Sam's food court was better down south but not up here. About the only reason I ate at the Sam's when I did was because you could fire a cannon through it at the same time Costco down the road had long lines. But back to what Alaskans buy and eat. At Costco they go overboard in carrying Alaska products including reindeer and buffalo. They have the best in Alaska seafood. For instance, "Farmed Salmon" is fighting words up here, so Costco only carries Wild Stock Alaska Salmon.