Costco shoppers are quite familiar with the Kirkland Signature brand, Costco’s private label. Kirkland Signature products range from clothing to batteries to groceries, with each product designed to match or exceed the quality of national brands. According to Costco’s 2024 annual report, Kirkland Signature brands bring in higher profit margins than national brands and play a significant role in maintaining customer loyalty. When it comes to groceries, there are many Kirkland Signature products to choose from. You’ll find everything from pantry basics like meat, eggs, and cooking oils to snacks, coffee, and tea packaged under the Kirkland Signature label.
Some Kirkland Signature grocery products have taken on legendary status, either because they are produced by well-known manufacturers or because Costco fans are trying to determine which company makes them. Rumors about Kirkland Signature French Vodka flew about for ages, with customers wondering whether Grey Goose was distilling the popular liquor. Speculation became so intense that Costco finally revealed that Gayant Distillery was the vodka’s source. Mystery solved! Despite all the social media chatter about product manufacturers, some of the myths about Costco’s Kirkland Signature groceries are just that — myths. These myths need to be busted.
The manufacturers of Kirkland Signature groceries are a closely held secret
When the Grey Goose vodka rumors went viral, media outlets zeroed in on the mystery, with reporters from national publications such as Vice and USA Today delving into the scuttlebutt surrounding Kirkland Signature French Vodka’s distiller (via Snopes). This not only led to Grey Goose placing a formal statement on its website but also created a myth that all Kirkland Signature products are shrouded in secrecy. In fact, this is not the case.
While it’s true that some manufacturers of Kirkland Signature products don’t place their names on the label, many do. Companies such as Keurig Green Mountain and Ocean Spray partner directly with Costco to create Kirkland Signature products, and you can easily find the company names or logos on Kirkland Signature packages. In addition, Costco itself owns factories that produce Kirkland Signature groceries, which helps keep costs down. Kirkland Signature hot dogs are probably the best-known example of Costco’s vertical integration approach to controlling costs. In an interview with CFO Dive, now-retired Costco chief financial officer Richard Galanti said, “That’s a plant that makes 300 million hot dogs a year, and we did that to take a few cents of the cost out by doing it ourselves in such huge efficient volumes.” This maneuver helps keep the price of the Costco food court hot dog combo at $1.50, a true bargain.
Costco sells Kirkland Signature groceries on Amazon
While it’s true that you can buy Kirkland Signature products without a Costco membership by purchasing them on Amazon, Costco isn’t selling them there. Instead, third-party resellers with Costco business memberships are buying Kirkland Signature groceries at Costco Business Centers and re-selling them on Amazon. While this could seem a bit bizarre, it’s legal. Business members are required to file appropriate resale paperwork with their Costco Business Center in order to buy and resell Costco products, including Kirkland Signature groceries. This allows convenience stores and Amazon third-party sellers, among others, to take advantage of Costco’s low prices.
Remember, though, that buying Kirkland Signature products from resellers usually means that you will pay more for those items than you would at a Costco warehouse. You’ll need to compare the price of a Costco membership with the annual savings you could realize if you bought your favorite Kirkland Signature products at your local Costco instead of from a third party to see which option is more cost-effective for you.
Kirkland Signature groceries are always produced by the same companies
A quick Google search will reveal dozens of articles and social media discussions on the brands behind Kirkland Signature products; Costco fans definitely want to know who makes the Kirkland Signature groceries they buy. Costco has also partnered with companies around the world to bring high quality, lower cost groceries to its warehouse shelves. Occasionally, Costco and a manufacturing partner decide to go separate ways, as happened in 2024 with some of the Kirkland Signature coffee products that Starbucks roasted for Costco.
Sometime in 2024, Kirkland Signature changed the packaging of its House Blend Medium Roast, Decaf House Blend Medium Roast, and Espresso Blend coffees, removing the Starbucks name and logo. This change suggested that Starbucks was no longer roasting these coffee blends for the Kirkland Signature label. Costco customers noticed instantly, with some complaining about the new blends’ taste on social media and others rejoicing at the coffee products’ new, lower prices. Neither Costco nor Starbucks explained the changes to the public and, as of this writing, Starbucks still supplies Costco with coffee products under its own label, including French Roast, Organic Winter Blend, and Caffè Verona whole bean coffee, VIA Instant Colombian coffee, five types of Nespresso capsules, and five varieties of K-cups.
Kirkland Signature groceries are cheap knockoffs
When private label groceries first came on the market, jokes about their quality and taste abounded. These days, savvy consumers know that private label groceries offer good quality at very competitive price points. Kirkland Signature, Costco’s sole private label, is so popular with customers that it brings in almost $60 billion in annual sales, more than many brand name companies’ entire annual sales, according to Business Insider.
Why are Kirkland Signature products so popular? When it comes to its private label, Costco is all about high quality and good value. Kirkland Signature products are manufactured according to rigorous standards. Costco partners with companies known for making high-quality products too. For example, Kirkland Signature Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is made by Zanetti S.P.A. in accordance with the European Union’s strict Protected Designation of Origin standards and Italy’s Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano regulations. The result is a top-quality cheese at an excellent price. When Costco decides to manufacture a Kirkland Signature product itself, the same focus on quality and value applies. Costco famously bought a chicken processing plant in order to decrease Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken production costs, with no discernible change in the taste of this popular food item.
All Kirkland Signature eggs sold at Costco are cage-free
Are all Kirkland Signature eggs cage-free? Not quite, but that’s the goal. According to its December 2024 Animal Welfare statement, Costco wants all of the eggs it sells to be cage-free (not to be confused with pasture-raised), including its Kirkland Signature liquid eggs. Costco carefully tracks the welfare of its suppliers’ laying hens and has implemented an extensive auditing system for its U.S. suppliers.
Several factors have made it difficult for Costco to achieve its goal of 100 percent cage-free eggs. In recent years, avian flu has decimated laying flocks, creating egg shortages. In some regions, such as China, Japan, and Taiwan, current market and farming conditions — which Costco calls “local available infrastructure and appropriate food-safety practices” — restrict access to adequate supplies of cage-free eggs, although Costco does buy cage-free eggs in these regions when they’re available. In the 2024 fiscal year, 97.1% of shell eggs sold in U.S. Costco warehouses were cage-free. 100 percent of shell eggs sold in Costco warehouses in the following regions were cage-free: France, Iceland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Sweden, and United Kingdom.
