What happened to the Costco onions? Missing food court topping leaves Twitter in hilarious uproar

There's a missing condiment in Costco food courts and the internet has some big feelings about it.

The big-box store has a cult following of customers who love all things associated with membership, from Kirkland-brand products to the food court special of a 1/4-pound all-beef hot dog and soda for just $1.50.

Those member-loved hot dogs could always be topped with ketchup, mustard, relish and diced onion until recently.

Simon Holland, an Atlanta, Ga.-based dad who has penned many a viral tweet about parenting and life in the suburbs, recently tweeted, "This pandemic won't be over until Costco puts the onions back out for the hot dogs."

His fellow Twitter users can relate. "Costco, bring back the onion crank," wrote one. "Need those onions for my yummy hot dog."

"The world started to go to s*** when Costco removed onions from the food court," said another.

While it's unclear when or why Costco removed the topping, Holland says he first noticed it as part of pandemic safety measures.

"They never really took the onions away — they took everything away during COVID and have slowly resumed the food court offerings," he tells Yahoo Life. "The hot dog onions were everything: They were free, unlimited and came out of an awesome little dispenser you had to turn a crank for like you were starting an old-time car."

And the onions weren't just for hot dogs.

"I saw a guy put them on his pizza once," Holland adds, "and there is a legend of a dude who filled his whole drink cup with diced onions and took them home to cook with."

A new Costco warehouse opened recently in my Florida community, and onion dispensers were not installed during the construction. Menu images of the hot dogs in the shiny new food court have even been scrubbed of diced onion altogether.

I've heard fellow customers ask in frustrated tones where the onions are and when they'll be coming back, but food court employees seem to have little answers. In fact, when I asked myself, the employee who served me was very tight-lipped. "I don't know anything about that," he said. When I pressed for more, he simply said, "I have no information about that, ma'am."

So I reached out to Costco's corporate offices, which were equally secretive.

"While we all have been missing the onions for our hot dog, we don't have a timeframe when they will be returning," a Costco representative who asked not to be named said in an email. "I have no other information to share at this time."

Whether the onions have gone missing from Costco locations due to the pandemic, supply-chain issues, inflation or some other factor remains a mystery, much to the dismay of Twitter.

Brigette Joseph, a private chef and food safety specialist, says onions should be stored chilled — maintained at 41 degrees Fahrenheit or cooler to prevent spoiling.

"Cut or chopped onions being left out in ambient room temperature for a long time is definitely a food safety hazard, as it's more susceptible to bacteria and pathogens growing," says Joseph. "Serving cut onions, vegetables or any food with a high water content where time or temperature should be used as a control measure would also attract the need for more employee involvement and management of time and temperature record-keeping for public health, so maybe staffing issues, which are plaguing the entire industry thanks to COVID, also have a part to play.

"Perhaps, due to COVID, not as many people are going to Costco as a family outing, resulting in a decline in hot dog sales at the food court," Joseph adds. "Or, it could be that they probably simply don't want to spend the extra money to give 'free' onions anymore, but I don't want to speculate or accuse."

Joseph says the most likely reason for the onions' disappearance may be food contamination risks: Prior to the pandemic, though Costco stored their onions at room temperature, she says, "the onions probably such had a high turnover that they replenished it quickly." If the pandemic or supply-chain issues have slowed Costco food court sales, it's possible this, coupled with issues like a recent CDC announcement of a salmonella outbreak in onions, has made the chopped onion goodness a gamble.

Still, for Costco fans like Holland, an onion-topped hot dog would be well worth the risk.

"The onions had a taste and texture combo that really made that 1/4-pound all-beef hot dog sing," he says.

But will the lack of onion make Holland give up his favorite Costco treat? It's unlikely.

"The $1.50 Costco hot-dog-and-drink combo is perhaps the pinnacle of economic dining," Holland shares. "I can drop $500 with my wife at Costco yet somehow leave happy because of the bargain I just got on lunch."

Related video: How to store onions so they last longer than ever before

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