🌭 Costco’s Kirkland: How a $1.50 Hot Dog Changed Store Brands Forever

The Best One Yet

Nick & Jack Studios

News, Business

4.7 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet here: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/

If you currently own a 12-pack of bath tissue, a 150-count bag of laundry pods, and/or a 48-oz jar of cashews, chances are they all have the same label: Kirkland Signature. Costco debuted this private-label brand—aka ‘store brand’—in 1995 and since then, it’s become a sales-driving juggernaut. Kirkland products now account for a quarter of Costco’s total sales, from coffee and batteries to their famous rotisserie chickens and $1.50 hot dogs. But don’t you dare call Kirkland “generic”, the brand has built up a rep for high-quality products and a cult-like following from all walks of life. (Kirkland Tequila as status symbol? Believe it.) Learn how a retail legend named Sol Price fought off Walmart to make the world’s most perfect shoppers’ club, why the mere suggestion to raise the hot dog price resulted in a death threat, and why Costco’s Kirkland is the best idea yet.

Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet for the untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — and the bold risk takers who made them go viral.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Yetis, Nick and Jack here coming out here from the T-Boy Studio.
0:04.5	On our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet, we go deep on the most popular products of all time.
0:09.6	And our latest episode is actually our most popular.
0:12.8	In fact, it was so popular, listeners ate it up, literally.
0:17.1	Because we revealed the untold origin story of Costco's Kirkland brand.
0:21.5	And since Costco is famous for its free samples, Jack and I felt kind of inspired.
0:26.6	So today we've whipped up a sample of our latest TBIY episode, all about Costco.
0:31.2	So enjoy this sample and then head over to the best idea yet to hear the rest of the Costco story.
0:37.0	Jack, let's hit it.
0:38.3	So picture Jim Senegal, one day in the mid-90s walking up and down the aisles of his flagship
0:51.2	warehouse store. He studies the sacks of Nutri Nuggets dog food, the shelves of Ballantrey wine, and the flats of
0:57.6	Simply SOTA.
0:58.6	All these different brands that Costco actually owns, and he gets this feeling, who are we?
1:04.4	Like, what are we actually making here?
1:07.5	Because you know what?
1:08.7	Nutra Nuggets isn't a knockoff.
1:10.8	It's a damn good product.
1:12.6	Jack, this Ballantre Pinot is a pretty good pino.
1:16.6	These are high quality private label goods made exclusively for Costco thanks to deals that
1:21.6	Senegal negotiated himself.
1:23.6	So he thinks, why are we hiding our store brand products? Let's let the people know that these are Costco products.
1:31.3	Let's pull 180 and do the opposite of everyone else and embrace the private label.
	...

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