Costco’s food court offers a lot of calories for your dollar. In fact, the deals are so good, that there’s been extensive research conducted into how the chain has been able to keep its prices low—and a lot of it has to do with the fact that the brand handles its own manufacturing processes.
It could also be argued that because the chain sticks to a strict menu of only 11 offerings, the brand is able to streamline its food court operation to minimize expenses. This means that any alterations or “secret menu” items are probably out of the question.
But that’s not the case, at least according to TikTok user Allen Shapiro (@therussianonig).
Shapiro says that as long as customers offer up a secret code to food court employees, they’re able to get their hands on a chicken bake pizza—a combination of two of the establishment’s food items.
“I don’t know if you know about that secret menu that Costco has,” he says as he approaches a cardboard box of pizza from the bulk retailer.
He slowly begins to crack it open, teasing the reveal he’s about to make about the esoteric ordering method he’s referring to. “That chicken bake pizza yo,” he says upon cracking the top of the box.
Inside is one of the chain’s large pies that appear to be decked out with bits of grilled chicken and other toppings. He Shapiro says that ordering the off-the-menu-item isn’t necessarily going to be smooth sailing. “Telling you they’re gonna deny it when you call it in. But you gotta give them the code 69247. Then they’ll ring you up. Aite,” he says, closing the top of the box.
More than a few folks hopped into the comments section of Shapiro’s video claiming they were Costco employees. They said that the Chicken Bake pizza isn’t real.
“California Costco employee here we don’t make these lol looks good though,” one user claimed.
“As a Costco employee… this ain’t real. Quit calling lol,” another said.
“Sacramento CA Costco does not have chicken bake pizza. It’s only pepperoni and cheese,” a third user said.
One commenter speculated that Shapiro tried pulling a bait and switch on his followers, stating that all he did was grab an empty Costco pizza box and then toss another type of pizza inside of it. “Dude asked Costco for an empty pizza box and had someone else put a pizza in it,” they said.
Another remarked: “That don’t even look like the Costco crust.”
One eagle-eyed pizza snoop noticed that there were some discrepancies between the size of the pie slices, noting it looked much different than what Costco typically serves up: “First of all those slices are too small, that is not a costco pizza,” they wrote.
Shapiro replied, “You can ask for it to be cut like that.”
Another person who said they worked at Costco chimed in claiming that Shapiro was fibbing. “Costco employee here there’s no secret menu- unless your an employee than if u can make secret items,” they wrote.
But the TikToker clapped back, stating that he was privy to an elite group of Costco members as they shop at a different variant of the chain. “You’re probably not at a Costco XL,” he wrote.
Food enthusiast Jordan (@jordan_the_stallion8) decided to look into Shapiro’s claim regarding the chicken bake pizza.
@therussianonig Costco Hidden Menu 🤫 #costco #pizza #69247 #chickenbake #chickenpizza #secretmenu ♬ original sound – Allen Shapiro
Jordan decided to ring up a Costco establishment and see if he could get his hands on one.
“So I called Costco and said, ‘Excuse me, can I have you guys’ chicken bake pizza?’” Jordan claims. “And I said, ‘Don’t worry, I know the secret code.’ And they said, ‘What’s the secret code?’ And I said, ‘69247,’ and then they said, ‘Please hold.’ I thought I had it.”
It turns out, he didn’t have it.
“They forgot to put me on hold, and I just hear a bunch of laughter. A lot of people were laughing for a healthy amount of time. And then they pick back up the phone and said, ‘Yeah man, that’s not a thing.’
As Jordan was about to hang up, he says the Costco workers said one more thing.
“I hear them say, ‘You gotta be pretty foolish to fall for that joke.’ And I said, ‘Why’d you say that because now I had to read that secret recipe book. Now I’m just gonna tell people how to make it at home.’ And they were like, ‘Yeah, good luck with that.’”
The TikToker then follows his frequent habit of “revealing” chains’ recipes. Jordan reads off the alleged “chicken bake pizza” recipe.
@jordan_the_stallion8 #fypシ ♬ original sound – Jordan_The_Stallion8
“Pizza crust is three cups of warm water, three tablespoons or yeast and add nine cups of flour, three tablespoons of sugar, olive oil, six tablespoons of salt,” he says.
“Mix that together, let it sit for an hour, then cook at 450 degrees for 15 minutes,” he continues. “Then you wanna get the sauce, wholesale at the store so you can make multiple pizzas, and for the chicken bake, it’s three strips of bacon, 4 ounces of chicken, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and caesar dressing enjoy.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Costco via email and Shapiro via Instagram direct message for further information.
The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here to get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
