Costco Says Hot Dog-Drink Combo Will Cost $1.50 ‘Forever’ – CNET [CNET]

Doggone it, this is still a great deal.

Food prices got you down? There’s some good news, thanks to warehouse-store Costco. The store is famous for its hot dog and drink combination, sold at its in-store food counter for just $1.50. And even in tough financial times, that price is sticking around, possibly “forever.”

Costco’s chief financial officer, Richard Galanti, was asked about the dog deal during a recent presentation on the chain’s fiscal results, MarketWatch reports. He said that there were other areas, such as Costco’s gas sales or travel business, where they might be able to make slightly more money to help keep prices down for the famous meal.

“Those things help us be more aggressive in other areas, or, as you mentioned, hold the price on the hot dog and the soda a little longer — forever,” he said.

You heard him, folks. “Forever.” We’ll see if that holds up, but the Costco combo has cost $1.50 since 1985 (the year of New Coke, if you want to sense how long ago that was).

Costco founder Jim Sinegal once told CEO Craig Jelinek, “If you raise the (price of the) effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.”

And Jelinek did figure it out, by opening the company’s own hot dog-manufacturing plant. Sounds like a big step, but a smart one: Costco food courts have sold more than a billion hot dogs worldwide since the deal began.