Costco's made-to-order bakery and deli assortment — long a members-only in-store draw — is now available for same-day delivery through Instacart (Nasdaq: CART) and sameday.costco.com, marking the first time the warehouse club has offered custom cakes and party platters via an e-commerce fulfillment channel at scale.
The launch covers custom sheet cakes and 10-inch round cakes that members can configure fully online, alongside ready-to-order sandwich platters, shrimp trays, and fruit platters. Orders ship from warehouse locations nationwide, with advance ordering available to accommodate event planning timelines.
The Tech Behind the SKUs
The capability is powered by FoodStorm, Instacart's end-to-end order-management system built for grocery perimeter departments — bakery, deli, and prepared foods — where custom and made-to-order items have historically been a friction point for digital fulfillment. FoodStorm routes online orders directly to Costco's in-warehouse bakery and deli teams, bridging the gap between a consumer-facing digital cart and a production-driven back-of-house workflow. That integration is increasingly critical as grocers push to monetize high-margin perimeter categories through off-premise channels.
"For nearly a decade, we've worked closely with Costco to expand the ways their members can shop online, and this is another exciting step in that partnership," said Ryan Hamburger, Chief Commercial Officer at Instacart. "We're proud to bring Costco's beloved made-to-order bakery and deli to sameday.costco.com and the Instacart marketplace."
Partnership Depth
Instacart and Costco have been partners since 2017, when the companies launched same-day delivery through the Instacart Marketplace. The relationship has since broadened to include Costco's same-day e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, Spain, and France — powered by Instacart's Storefront Pro technology — as well as EBT SNAP payment acceptance, alcohol delivery, promotional flyers, a monthly $10 credit for Executive Members on eligible orders, and the addition of Costco Business Centre in Canada.
For grocery technology operators, the Costco-Instacart expansion underscores a broader industry shift: warehouse clubs and traditional grocers are under pressure to close the digital gap on high-attachment, occasion-driven categories like catering and celebration foods. Party platters and custom cakes carry strong basket-size implications, and routing them through a delivery platform extends their reach to members who may not make a warehouse trip solely for event planning. As the off-premise and grocery delivery segment continues to mature, perimeter department digitization is becoming a key differentiator for retail grocery partners competing for catering and foodservice occasions. The move also signals how grocery technology platforms are deepening their value proposition beyond simple last-mile logistics, embedding order-management infrastructure — like FoodStorm — into retailers' production workflows to unlock SKU categories previously locked behind the counter.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
