The Weirdest, Wackiest Part of Costco's Bakery

My childhood was filled with birthday parties. I can still see hot dogs and hamburgers being flipped on a charcoal grill, the cans of pop in ice coolers (yes, I'm from the midwest despite my Manhattan address), and most importantly, the birthday sheet cake. I was a chocolate cake and chocolate icing type of kid. When you are from the Midwest, supermarkets are the gold standard of birthday cakes. The bakery departments carry your birthday dreams in their hands every time you order a cake and I personally believe some regional grocery chains make the best birthday cakes you can get. One chain that's particularly known for their cakes is the wholesale favorite, Costco.

Costco may be known for its array of free samples, comforting food court, and optimal gas station savings, but it's also known for its bakery. In addition to numerous sweets and pastries, the bakery can also make a custom cake to your liking, The method to put in an order for the cake is probably the most old-school method you will ever encounter, and here's why.

How To Order a Cake From the Costco Bakery

If you are one of those people who likes to order everything online, I'm sorry to tell you that Costco does not allow cake orders to be done online. Instead, you're required to physically go to a location near you, approach the bakery, and fill out an oder form.

This order form includes the type of sheet cake (white or chocolate), a set list of available decorations, any requested writing on the cake, when you would like to pickup the cake, and your contact information. Just make sure you give the bakery at least 48 hours to complete the order. Once you have completed the form, you drop it into a slot box and simply go about your day.

Learning the fact that the most important part of any celebration is in the hands of a single written form can be troubling. You don't get any confirmation that the order has been received, but the process seems to work flawlessly.

"I’ve been working in a Costco bakery for over 6 years now, and not once has our team ever lost or misplaced a single cake order form," says Reddit user Hippiegrenade on a thread about this "system from the 1800s." "We’ve had members try to pick up on the wrong date (a week or more earlier than requested- generally because they wrote down the wrong date), forget when they requested to have the cake ready, or tried to pick up a cake from us when they ordered it at a different warehouse, but we’ve never lost an order."

The "slot box" method may seem a bit old fashioned, but it doesn't rely on WiFi or electricity for that matter. And there's no chance that someone will record the information wrong over a bad phone connection—just make sure your hand writing is neat and easy to read!