Thanksgiving pies: how many does Costco sell?

Millions of Americans will sit down on Thursday for a Thanksgiving meal and, for some, that includes eating pie for dessert. 

More than half of American adults – 54% – intend to nosh on pie as part of their Thanksgiving meal, whether it be pumpkin or another kind, a recently released Economist/YouGov poll found.

While some bake their own pies from scratch, others purchase theirs from a local retailer in preparation for the meal. One of those retailers is Costco Wholesale, which is known to sell several million pies ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. 

Costco sold several million pies ahead of Thanksgiving last year

In 2023, Costco notched sales of more than 4 million pies in the U.S. during the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving, then-CFO Richard Galanti told analysts and investors in mid-December of last year during the warehouse retailer’s quarterly earnings call.

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“I’ve gotten more than a few calls in the past few weeks as to how many pies we sold in the U.S. leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday,” he said at the time. 

Of the pies Costco customers bought during that three-day span in 2023, 2.9 million of them were the retailer’s extremely in-demand – and large – pumpkin pies, he said. 

The other 1.3 million that people bought were apple and pecan pies, according to Galanti. 

In previous years, Costco has put up big numbers for pumpkin pies before Thanksgiving too, like in 2019, when it sold 2.1 million, People reported. 

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Customers buy some 6 million of Costco’s pumpkin pies in the period from September through December each year, Susan Schwartz, who authored “The Joy of Costco: A Treasure Hunt from A to Z” with husband David Schwartz, told FOX business in an October interview last year.

FOX business reached out to Costco for comment about its expectations for 2024 seasonal pie sales. 

The warehouse retailer’s 58-ounce pumpkin pie sports a $5.99 price tag. 

Other foods on Thanksgiving menus

In addition to pies, other popular foods served as part of many Thanksgiving meals this year include mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, gravy and green beans, according to the Economist/YouGov poll. 

More than two-thirds of American adults reported they will dine on turkey during their festivities, making the bird the top Thanksgiving food, the poll showed.

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This year, U.S. consumers looking to host Thanksgiving meals said they anticipate the food and beverages for the occasion will cost them $265 on average, according to a separate survey from LendingTree.