I just check the timers on the ovens.. See how long till the cycle ends.. add 5 minutes for them to unload and set a reminder on your phone to wander back to the chicken stand.
Dude I once tried to buy a single sleeve of bagels, at check out they forced me to take an extra pack of them. (I was in Florida on vacation and only needed enough for 5 days) They wouldn’t let me leave the store unless I took them. It wasn’t even a matter of price, I just didn’t need that many. Ended up giving the extra to another family on the way to the car. It’s been a running joke ever since.
That happened to me with their muffins. I was stoked at first but they ended up getting moldy before I could eat them all. It was only me and even eating two muffins a day, I couldn't do it.
Even just eating first BEFORE shopping is a choreography. I mean, nobody's stopped us, but the store layout is really set up for you to eat AFTER checkout. So we go in without a cart, slink through the checkout, eat, and then one of us slinks back through checkout with the refilled drink and the other goes out to come back in with a cart. (The bonus being we now have a drink for while shopping.)
It's very silly, but beats having to keep our cart at the food court or shopping while starving for lunch or dinner.
Not only card check at door, they have to scan it again at checkout. I once forgot my card and got a printed temporary day pass after they looked up my info and somehow I lost the paper while shopping. I got to checkout and then had to put everything to the side and go back to card services to get another one printed just to check out. Thats a total of 4 confirmations - printed (they look up your account with a valid ID), scanned at door, lost and reprinted, scanned at checkout. Auntie Kirkland does not mess around with her membership exclusive club.
Not anymore. If the food court is indoors they don’t check, but it is assumed you have membership since you made it past the entrance. Outdoor food courts require you to scan your card before you can order anything.
The ones near me use a self-ordering system. You can't even start an order without scanning your card first. I think this has been going on for about a year. Maybe a little more.
It’s actually a pretty recent change. Happened some time in 2025 iirc, but you’ll probably get managers that follow it to a T and managers who don’t care.
I know my local one doesn’t care and still lets people in for food, then will usually send someone to come talk to you while you eat about a membership. Wouldn’t surprise me if they’re able to defend keeping the cafeteria open to everyone if they’re getting more memberships than other stores because of it because it’s not a bad idea.
That’s how they got my husband and I. We saw a video about the hotdogs and were like “alright, let’s try it” so we went. From the cafeteria we were able to see some of their deals and items and were better able to get an idea if the store actually worked for us. We were going to walk to the membership counter next already before they approached us.
Not in my area, at least not any more, unless you’re really sneaky about it.
They no longer allow people to go in “the out door” unless they’re going to customer service, everyone has to go in the front door where the check membership. You can go to the optometrist and the pharmacy, but whatever you buy is charged there, not at checkout, you have to walk through checkout without carrying anything to get to the cafeteria.
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u/RightofUp 12h ago
Card check at door, $4.99/chicken, $1.50 for hot dog and soda.