It has nothing to do with cost savings
Here’s Why Your Costco Pizza Slice Has Holes in It
Published on May 27, 2025
After stocking up on essentials at Costco, you may just find your cart drawn to the food court—specifically, to the pizza station. Alongside the $1.50 Costco hot dog and soda combo, Costco pizza is a cult favorite for more than just its wallet-friendly $1.99-a-slice price (though we are all about the top Costco deals). The pizza, which you can get by the slice or pie, is decidedly ooey-gooey with an evenly crisped crust. About that crust … you may have noticed tiny holes on the bottom. What’s that all about?
Don’t worry—it isn’t anything sketchy. The perforations are actually the secret to why Costco’s pizza tastes way better than a bulk store’s Italian food should. If you are pizza-hole curious, read on to discover what we learned. This is why Costco pizza has holes in it—and why you’re definitely going to want to try this pizza-making hack at home.
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How is Costco pizza made?
Costco has a fascinating system for consistently cranking out tasty pizzas in its just-updated food court. It’s part high-tech automation and part old-school, hands-on pizza-making. To kick off the process, a Costco employee shapes the ball of dough and puts it in a pizza press, which is like a waffle press, only for pizzas. The staffer then hand-shapes and stretches the dough disc so it fits into a metal pizza pan. But not just any pan: Costco uses a perforated (aka hole-filled) pizza pan. This style prevents excess flour from burning and makes for a crisper crust.
Next, the cook puts holes in the dough (more on that in a minute). Now, it’s ready for Costco’s special pizza-sauce robot—watch the video of it from TikTok creator Eric.Schneiter—to drizzle on the perfect amount of sauce.
So how are the holes in the crust made?
The tiny punctures in the dough come from a fairly inexpensive tool called a pizza docker. Now you’re getting all the Costco secrets! It looks like a lint roller, only with spikes. (You can buy your own docker through Amazon or Williams Sonoma.) The Costco employee runs the spiky gadget back and forth across the dough to make the holes. You can see this magic in action in this video from TikTok user CostcoHotFinds.
What’s the purpose of the holes?
The little holes aerate the dough. Letting air in accomplishes two things: It helps the pizza cook evenly, and it prevents big air bubbles from forming in the crust. That is crucial, since we all know big air bubbles are basically missing pizza.
How else does Costco ensure its pizza is consistent?
Holes wouldn’t be a game-changer if Costco didn’t start with really good dough. Costco uses dough from an Italian bakery called Lamonica’s that has roots in pizza mecca Brooklyn and now operates dough bakeries in Brooklyn, Southern California and Italy. They ship frozen dough balls to Costcos around the country every day.
Also, credit Costco’s space-age sauce robot arm. By automating this step, the retailer ensures the exact-right amount of sauce hits each pie. You know what that means: You’ll never have that maddening experience of getting a slice so gloppy, it collapses under the weight of its own marinara.
Another plus: Costco is generous with the cheese (a mozzarella and Parmesan blend). Of course, that could be why a single slice of Costco pizza clocks in at 699 calories, per Calorie King, while a slice of Pizza Hut pan pizza from a 14-inch pie has less than half that (309, to be exact), according to the USDA. But who’s counting calories when you just pushed a heavy cart and logged about 17,000 steps through warehouse aisles?!
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Sources:
- Calorie King: “Costco Food Court Slice Cheese Pizza”
- Lamonica’s: “Lamonica’s Pizza Dough”
- USDA Food Data Central: “Pizza Hut 14″ Cheese Pizza, Pan Crust”
