What Happened To Costco's Kirkland Signature Cola?

Narong Khueankaew/Getty Images

Much of Costco's popularity has to do with its high-quality private label Kirkland Signature. The store-exclusive brand is much loved by members of the warehouse retail chain, and it's even been rumored that name-brands are behind some of Costco's most popular products, including Green Mountain Coffee and Reynolds, among others. Costco puts a lot of time and effort into developing its products, and it certainly shows, but not all the store's exclusive offerings meet the high expectations of shoppers. One such misstep involved Costco's now defunct Kirkland Signature Cola, which, presumably, was intended as the store's rival to Coke and Pepsi. In fact, this unsuccessful soda made the list of Kirkland products that completely failed on release, along with Kirkland-branded hazelnut spread and take-and-bake pizzas.

To say the history behind this Costco-exclusive soda is murky is an understatement. Though it's clear the cola has since been discontinued, there isn't much information on when it was introduced. According to Reddit, the store offered a pre-Kirkland beverage called Simply (the Kirkland brand was introduced in 1995), as well as an official Kirkland Signature Cola sometime later. As explained by a self-described Costco employee on the social media site, Kirkland soda was discontinued in 2015. The Redditor also admitted that the soda didn't have a particularly good flavor and that it was not popular.

Unlike many other product discontinuations, Costco has commented publicly on its axed Kirkland Cola. As reported by CNN Business, Richard Galanti, chief financial officer at Costco, said the product was pulled from store shelves because "no one was looking for a third major cola out there." Galanti also emphasized the importance of quality when it comes to the store-exclusive brand, stating, "We're not just putting [the Kirkland Signature brand] on things. Just like any branded item, any private label lives and dies based on how it performs." In this respect, it's worth considering the figurative stranglehold that major cola brands Coca-Cola and Pepsi have on consumers. 

Much of this influence has to do with both brands' iconic marketing, which has created diehard fans on either side of the Coke-Pepsi divide. And while soda novices might not detect any differences between the two cola brands, it's generally accepted that Pepsi is a bit sweeter with hints of citrus, whereas Coke has a pared back sweetness that allows the beverage's carbonated nature to really shine through. (This is subjective, of course, and some consumers take the opposite view.) Much like a Pepsi fan would balk at being offered a Coke (and vice versa), they are likely to look down on a mere "generic" cola. A Redditor explained it like this: "Is Costco going to make more money selling their own brand [of] pop and reducing the footprint for a different brand? I don't know, but my guess is probably not enough to give it a try in 2025."