Costco’s Chicken Tenders Go Nationwide, and the Calzone Didn’t Survive

Costco has officially rolled its $6.99 chicken tenders basket out to food courts nationwide, roughly two months after the first test trays appeared in a handful of Midwest warehouses. Each order comes with five baked tenders and a dipping sauce so many shoppers have compared it to Chick-fil-A’s honey mustard that the comparison has become the whole conversation online. The meal also carries 1,640 calories, and reviews are already split down the middle.

That split verdict is the exact kind of data Costco has used before to decide what survives on its food court menu and what quietly disappears. The tenders’ direct predecessor, a Combo Calzone that arrived in May 2025, barely made it to its first birthday.

A $6.99 Basket Two Months in the Making

The rollout started small. Six Chicago-area Costco warehouses began serving the tenders on May 4, 2026, swapping them in for the Combo Calzone at test locations. Word spread through TikTok and Instagram long before Costco said anything official about it.

1. May 4, 2026: Chicken tenders debut at six Chicago-area Costco warehouses, replacing the Combo Calzone at test locations.
2. Mid-May 2026: Videos of the 1,640-calorie basket spread across TikTok and Instagram while Costco declines to confirm any wider rollout plans.
3. July 6, 2026: The tenders reach Santa Rosa, California, one of the last major markets to get them.
4. July 11 to 15, 2026: Los Angeles-area and Bakersfield warehouses add the item, with shoppers reporting long lines and slower checkout times.
5. Week of July 18, 2026: Costco confirms the chicken tenders are now a nationwide food court item.

MyNorthwest, the Seattle outlet that ordered a basket at two Washington warehouses, clocked individual tenders at about 3.5 ounces each, putting a full order at well over a pound of breaded chicken breast, closer to a chicken cutlet than a drive-thru finger. One Instagram reviewer, the account Costcoguide, said the tenders are “literally” the size of her head.

The dipping sauce cup is just as generous, and its color and flavor have shoppers reaching for the same comparison. Instagram food account Photogami, known as The Sushi Guy, went further and reverse-engineered the sauce as three parts Chick-fil-A honey mustard to one part Chick-fil-A’s own signature sauce.

Costco Picked a Crowded Fight

Costco is walking into a chicken tender market that fast-food chains have fought over for years. Raising Cane’s, the tenders-only chain that has become one of the fastest-growing names in fast food, finished 2025 with $5.48 billion in sales across 913 locations, a 10.6% jump from the year before.

Chick-fil-A, the chain shoppers keep name-checking in tender reviews, grew its own system sales 5.2% to system sales climbing to nearly $24 billion in 2025, based on the chain’s newest franchise disclosure filing.

Chick-fil-A commands real loyalty even though its prices add up fast for a family, which is part of why one dad’s approach to feeding a family of five for under $45 on Chick-fil-A’s own menu went viral in its own right. Costco’s pitch is blunter: five oversized tenders and a full sauce cup for less than a Cane’s four-piece box.

Set side by side, Costco undercuts both Raising Cane’s and Chick-fil-A on price while outweighing both on portion size, which is exactly the conclusion MyNorthwest’s own side-by-side taste test reached.

Costco’s Food Court Graveyard

The broader chicken race has cooled slightly even as Costco jumps in. Chicken chains grew sales 5.3% in 2025, versus 3% for the restaurant industry overall, down from 9.1% growth in 2024 and more than 12% in 2023, a nearly 7% sales slowdown in two years tied to cooling momentum at the biggest chains.

That kind of deceleration would worry a standalone chicken chain. It barely registers for Costco, which treats new food court items less like permanent bets and more like experiments with a built-in expiration date.

The tenders’ immediate predecessor is proof. The Combo Calzone arrived in May 2025, itself replacing older Combo Pizza flavor varieties, and reviewers never fully warmed to it; coverage at the time called it polarizing and said it did little to excite regulars. By the time Chicago test warehouses started swapping it for chicken tenders in May 2026, the calzone had barely lasted a year.

Costco’s food court has quietly buried other items the same way:

• The standalone churro: replaced by a Double Chocolate Chunk Cookie in early 2024 after years of member requests to bring back a version of it.
• The vanilla almond ice cream bar: pulled in 2013 as ingredient costs and hand-dipping labor made it too expensive to keep.
• Cinnamon sugar soft pretzels: a staple in the early 2000s quietly dropped years ago.
• The original acai bowl: introduced in 2018, pulled in 2020 amid pandemic-era menu cuts and mixed reviews on taste and sugar content.

The acai bowl eventually returned at under $5, proof that Costco’s cuts are not always permanent. The calzone has not gotten that second chance yet, and multiple outlets note it has only been swapped out in many locations, not confirmed dead everywhere.

Costco’s grocery aisles run the same experiment. Yasso’s Greek yogurt mini cups landed at $11.89 a pack earlier this year, another quiet addition shoppers found by wandering the aisles rather than reading a press release.

Do Costco’s Chicken Tenders Actually Taste Good?

Reviews are genuinely split. Shoppers who tried the tenders early call the chicken juicy and the portion enormous, while others describe the same order as dry, salty or stringy. MyNorthwest’s own taste test found scorch marks on some pieces and breading that slid off others, calling those early rollout issues rather than a recipe problem.

Part of the texture debate comes down to equipment. US Costco warehouses bake the tenders in conveyor ovens rather than deep fry them, unlike Canadian and Australian Costco food courts, which have served a fried version with fries for years.

The praise online has been loud. One shopper called the tenders the “bomb.com,” while another guessed Costco was chasing “protein conscious gym bros” before admitting they “look yummy.”

The complaints have been just as loud. “Too dry, salty… Rare Costco L,” one shopper wrote. Another described a basket where “the first tender was really tasty but the rest were stringy,” adding it “can’t compare to the (hot) dawg.” A third shopper suspected a bad batch until they read the replies, noting the dryness complaints looked “the same across” every store.

The $6.99 Slot Was Already Reserved

Six dollars and ninety nine cents is not a new number on Costco’s food court board. The Combo Calzone charged the same price. So does the rotisserie chicken Caesar salad. The tenders slid into an existing premium tier instead of forcing Costco to test a higher price point on shoppers.

The number Costco actually protects is a different one. The $1.50 hot dog and soda combo has held its price since 1985. As Costco lore has it, co-founder Jim Sinegal told current CEO Craig Jelinek in 1996 that he would not survive raising that price, an anecdote employees still repeat as shorthand for how seriously the company guards it.

The chicken bake was not so protected. Its price jumped from $2.99 to $3.99 in 2022, still described by food court trackers as the most complained-about price change in recent years. The tenders test whether members will pay a premium for a genuinely new item, not whether they will tolerate a familiar one costing more.

Costco has also tightened who can buy any of it. As of 2026, a valid membership card is required at every food court kiosk, including outdoor windows that once let non-members walk up and order. The one exception is a Costco Shop Card, which still grants access without a membership.

Costco’s core business is healthy while all of this plays out. Fiscal third-quarter sales climbed 11.6% with gas pumps recruiting new members, giving Costco room to keep testing rather than rushing a permanence decision.

The Test Isn’t Over Yet

Costco has not said whether the chicken tenders are permanent, and its pattern suggests it does not have to decide quickly. Food court trackers say new items typically spend three to six months as limited tests before Costco commits either way, and this one has already run longer than that in some markets while barely arriving in others.

The chain most likely to feel it if Costco succeeds is the one everyone keeps mentioning in the reviews. Chick-fil-A was named America’s Favorite Chain in 72% rating its food quality best in class among Datassential’s 2026 rankings, the highest score in the chicken segment, even as new chicken chains emerge and grow around it.

What we know:

• The tenders are $6.99 nationwide, run 1,640 calories with sauce, replaced the Combo Calzone in many locations, and are baked rather than fried in US warehouses.
• Costco tested the item for roughly ten weeks, from six Chicago-area warehouses in May to nationwide availability by mid-July.

What’s unconfirmed:

• Whether the tenders become a permanent fixture or eventually join the churro and the original acai bowl on Costco’s discontinued list.
• Whether the Combo Calzone still exists anywhere; coverage describes it being swapped out in many locations, not confirmed gone everywhere.
• Whether Costco will respond publicly to the dry and salty complaints reported at multiple warehouses; the company has stayed quiet beyond the menu board itself.

For now, the only confirmed casualty is the calzone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Costco’s chicken tenders available at every warehouse now?

Yes, as of mid-July 2026, though the rollout took about ten weeks to reach every region. The six original Chicago-area test warehouses got the item on May 4, 2026, and some California locations did not see it until July 6 through July 15.

How many calories are in Costco’s chicken tenders without the sauce?

The five tenders alone run about 1,130 calories, according to the food court’s own menu board, climbing to 1,640 calories once the full dipping sauce portion is included.

What did the chicken tenders replace on Costco’s menu?

The Combo Calzone at most locations, which itself had only been on the menu since May 2025, when it replaced older Combo Pizza flavor varieties. The calzone’s run lasted barely a year before tenders started taking its place.

Do I need a Costco membership to buy food court items now?

Yes. Since 2026, a valid membership card is required at every food court kiosk, including outdoor windows that previously allowed non-members to order. Shoppers using a Costco Shop Card, a gift card obtained from a member, can still buy food court items without holding a membership themselves.

Are the chicken tenders fried like Raising Cane’s or Chick-fil-A’s?

No. US Costco locations bake the tenders in conveyor ovens rather than deep frying them, which several reviewers say explains the softer texture compared with fried competitors. Canadian and Australian Costco food courts serve a fried version alongside fries.