trip What a
inside costco
Pumpkins are harvested in late August from a 700-acre region in Peoria, Illinois.
Approximately 174
truckloads of pumpkins
are locally processed into
1 million No. 10 cans.
COSTCO IS FAMOUS for its
$1.50 hot dog and soda,
available year-round.
Equally famous,
although for a shorter and
decidedly more frenzied
time period, is the venerable
12-inch, made-from-scratch,
3½-pound, $5.99 pumpkin
pie. The pie sells in such
astonishing numbers, particularly in the mad-dash
run-up to Thanksgiving
(nearly 1. 5 million pies
in five days), that
from growing and
purchasing pumpkins to the production of the
pie, the process
takes on military-style precision.
—T. Foster Jones
What goes into
4. 7 million
pies?
time period, is the venerable 12-inch, made-from-scratch,
Cans are
shipped
to Costco
bakeries all
across the
country.
6. 3 million pounds of canned pumpkin
4. 8 million pounds of sugar and spices
4. 7 million freshly pressed pie shells
2 million pounds of fresh whole eggs
Between September 1
and December 31, Costco
sells 4. 7 million pumpkin
pies (102,000 oven loads).
Pumpkin power
Nothing puny about Costco’s
pumpkin pie
One
employee’s
personal
best was
baking
1,800 pies
in a single
night.
1993
SIZE INCREASES,
PRICE REMAINS
$5.99
A 12"
pumpkin pie
weighs 58
ounces
(more than
3½ lbs.)
