Costco (NASDAQ: COST) members love its food court. Each warehouse has one, offering hot dogs, pizza, sandwiches, churros, ice cream, and a handful of other things all at very low prices.
Now, with the coronavirus forcing Americans to practice social distancing, the warehouse club has begun making changes to how its food courts operate. This includes scaling back the menu and closing the dining area to move to a takeout-only model.
Costco is only offering full pizzas, not slices. Image source: Getty Images.
What is Costco doing?
The warehouse club has been enacting measures to be able to serve its customers and keep them, as well as employees, safe. These have included limiting crowds in its stores and increasing its cleaning efforts.
In its food courts, Costco plans to offer only hot dogs and full pizzas -- not slices. The rest of the menu has been eliminated in affected locations. The soda machines are also not in operation.
Costco has not made a formal announcement of its intent to change how its food court operates. These changes were first noted by the Costco Deals Instagram account.
In its post on the Faceobook-owned platform, Costco Deals noted that the changes were happening first in the Northwest, where coronavirus has hit hard but that they would likely be rolled out nationwide.
A needed change
Costco has to balance serving its customers with keeping them safe. That's a bit of a tightrope to walk, but so far the warehouse club has done it very well. By taking these measures the company still offers its members some hot, cheap food but it's doing so in a way that keeps them, as well as its employees, as safe as possible.
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