Costco's made-to-order sheet cakes, 10-inch round cakes, sandwich platters, shrimp trays, and fruit platters are now available for delivery through Instacart and sameday.costco.com — marking the first time the warehouse club's bakery and deli perimeter has been accessible via same-day delivery at scale.
The expansion is powered by FoodStorm, Instacart's end-to-end order management system built specifically for grocery perimeter departments such as bakery, deli, and prepared foods. FoodStorm routes online customization requests directly to Costco's in-warehouse bakery and deli teams, allowing customers to specify cake designs and order in advance for birthdays, corporate events, and large gatherings — without stepping inside a warehouse.
Why Operators Should Watch This
For foodservice and grocery operators, the move signals a maturing moment for perimeter-department e-commerce. Customized, made-to-order items — long considered logistically difficult to digitize — are increasingly viable online thanks to purpose-built order management middleware. Instacart's FoodStorm has been quietly expanding its footprint in this space, and its integration with a retailer the scale of Costco validates the technology's ability to handle high-volume, customization-heavy SKUs. Operators evaluating catering tech or online ordering platforms for their own deli and bakery programs should take note of how this workflow bridges the kitchen and the digital storefront.
"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 — making delivery available for the first time and giving members even more ways to order for life's biggest celebrations."
A Decade-Long Partnership Deepens
Costco and Instacart have partnered since 2017, when they launched same-day delivery through the Instacart Marketplace. The relationship has since expanded to include same-day e-commerce sites across the U.S., Canada, Spain, and France — powered by Instacart's Storefront Pro technology — as well as EBT SNAP payment acceptance, alcohol delivery, and an Executive Member monthly credit on eligible orders. The addition of custom cakes and party platters represents a meaningful push into catering-adjacent territory, where average order values and advance-planning intent are both high. For the broader foodservice and grocery delivery landscape, it reinforces the appetite for convenience around high-consideration, occasion-driven purchases. Industry professionals tracking the intersection of catering software and last-mile grocery logistics — a space covered closely by Food & Beverage Magazine — will recognize this as a bellwether for where restaurant and grocery technology is heading as retailers compete to own more of the event and celebration occasion.
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.
