What Comes Before That “We’re In Costco” Moment
Everyone celebrates the “We’re in Costco!” announcement.
And they should!
But there’s a whole other reality behind-the-scenes that rarely makes it to these posts.
Some things many don’t realize about getting into Costco Wholesale:
The curation is intense. Costco carries around 3,700 SKUs per warehouse. The average grocery store? Over 30,000. Their buyers aren’t just selective. They’re looking for reasons to say no.
You might not even sell your “real” product there. Many brands create entirely new SKUs just for Costco. Oats Overnight sells bags instead of their standard cups. MUSH launched protein bar minis. Magic Spoon made a double-sized 14oz box (their standard is 7oz) that I always keep in stock. That's it. made an 18-count Crunchables variety bag just for club stores. Chances are, what you see on the shelf might only exist there.
The packaging specs are also no joke. There’s reportedly a 40-page document covering everything from pallet dimensions to how products need to survive 500+ mile transit. Miss the specs and you risk chargebacks or getting pulled.
Speed to scale is maybe the most surprising. Brands often talk about getting accepted in stores and having just weeks to prepare. Bill Shufelt from Athletic Brewing has talked about doubling their production capacity and outgrowing it again in three months. They deliberately held off on major retailers until they knew they could fulfill the orders. Going from nobody returning your calls to not being able to keep up with demand is a good problem, but not if you’re not ready.
The samples we all love are proof of concept. Trü Frü passed out over a million free samples before their Costco expansion. This isn’t just marketing; it’s showing buyers that demand already exists.
Getting into Costco isn’t just a distribution win. It’s an operations test.
The brands that last there aren’t just great products. They’re supply chain machines.
What’s your Costco story?
