Montana Costco Brings Back Food Court Classic

You remember when Costco pulled diced onions from the food court during COVID? It was a sad day for fans of hot dogs throughout Montana. But it’s 2025, and the onions are back.

You heard that right. Costco is rumored to be returning the self-serve diced onion machine that vanished during the pandemic, and people are loving it. No more sad, naked hot dogs. Gone are the days of scouring the condiment counter to find a sad pack of mustard. The onions are back, and it feels like a little bit of normalcy has been restored.

If you don’t know what the onion crank machine is, this fabulous machine allows you to pile your hot dog high with as many diced onions as your stomach and social life can bear.

But don't get too excited yet, because according to Parade, some people got a bit overzealous before it disappeared, filling entire soda cups with onions.

A fan wrote:

From what I've been told, it's unlikely that will happen. The reason they took them away was because people would load up their soda cup to the top with ‘free’ onions and it was a big loss for the store. Now, they use little disposable cups in the mornings that have to be prepped daily, but due to lack of space, lack of employees, and lack of prep time, they usually run out by midday and unless it's unusually slow there won't be more prepped until the next morning

So maybe the crank machines will never return? For now, at least onions are an option again.

Montana Costcos are figuring it out, slowly but surely. If you don’t see the onion station ready to go, ask someone in the food court. It is worth a look every time you are there, filling up on toilet paper and family-sized boxes of Pop-Tarts.

Long live the onion crank. And long may that $1.50 hot dog combo reign.