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A family of nuts

Tropical Hawaii, sunny California, the Amazon rainforest in Peru: These locations are more than vacation destinations—they are a few of the growing areas around the world where Costco’s Kirkland Signature™ nuts are sourced.

The U.S. for almonds, macadamia nuts, pistachios and walnuts; Mexico for pecans; and more than 20 different countries for mixed nuts are among the places near and far where Costco’s corporate buying team searches for the perfect nuts.

“The sheer volume of cashews that we [sell] requires us to be sourcing from multiple countries in order to be able to supply our members,” says Justin Knapp, corporate foods buyer. The additional benefit of sourcing nuts from multiple countries is redundancy in supply. “If you have one country that goes through a massive drought and the yield [of] cashews drops dramatically, if we didn’t have that redundancy of other countries that could supply us, we would not be able to offer that nut to the member,” Knapp says.

A woman from an African farming community; workers sort through cashews in a processing facility in Africa.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUSTIN KNAPP

Checks and balances

Sourcing nuts is a detail-oriented effort for the Costco buying team, involving travel to countries around the world to stay on top of the extensive and complicated supply chain. Buyers visit farming communities to offer support with crop challenges as well as production facilities to encourage a safe working environment for employees. “Every Costco supplier is required to follow good manufacturing practices, such as making sure the machinery is being cleaned properly and there’s no crosscontamination, especially at critical control points where product is moving from a raw state to a cooked state,” says Knapp.

Suppliers are also expected to meet Costco’s Supplier Code of Conduct, which seeks to protect the working rights and safety of the people who produce, process and harvest the merchandise the company sells. Spot-check audits by third parties are conducted at facilities to verify compliance with these standards.

Another important aspect of Costco’s relationship with the suppliers is to help farmers with training on how to grow their crops more effectively. “A lot of the harvesting practices will [initially] be different from Costco’s expectations,” Knapp says. “So we go in and work with the farmer to educate them on best practices on how to harvest to get the best quality product for our members.”

After harvesting, as nuts go through manufacturing and sorting, Kirkland Signature items are inspected according to high-quality specifications that set the private-label brand apart from the rest of the industry. Additionally, the Quality Assurance Department at the Costco corporate office will pull samples and do spotchecks to make sure the products being sold in the warehouses are meeting the specifications. “Every month, all of the suppliers that package our finished goods send us production samples. And then we look at them ourselves in conjunction with the [Quality Assurance Department],” Knapp says.

Employees sorting cashews; packaged cashews.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUSTIN KNAPP

A win-win situation

By purchasing nuts from these countries, Costco supports local economies in the farming communities while providing high-quality and nutritious nuts under the Kirkland Signature private label to its members. In various ways, Costco also supports organizations that oversee community-improvement projects, bettering the overall quality of life in these locations.

In Ivory Coast, for instance, rural areas do not have access to basic water services, which increases the risk of waterborne diseases, such as dysentery, typhoid and giardia. Digging wells and installing pumps promotes the health of these communities and contributes to social improvements for women and children.

Child labor is a serious ongoing concern, and one of the ways Costco tries to address this issue is by supporting programs that operate schools and child care—needed facilities not typically found close to farming communities. Having these facilities in the community improves access to education and health services, which benefits the community in the long term.

In one example, in a cashew production factory, dedicated breastfeeding and child care facilities are provided for female factory employees to promote a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

Costco also assists with training farmers so that the farms can be sustained and continue to plant and grow in the future. “We don’t go in just to take from their crops,” says Phillip Lott, Costco corporate assistant food buyer. “Costco works with co-ops and with nongovernmental organizations that train farmers in things like beekeeping and pruning skills and techniques to help them operate their farms better and increase their yield. We go in and help them make their crops better, which in turn makes them more economically stable and helps us get more tonnage for our programs.”

Innovating product and packaging

Part of improving Costco’s private-label products involves the buying team looking at the packaging itself. The buyers in the nut category are making efforts to reduce the amount of cardboard and plastic in the supply stream by incorporating post-consumer recycled content.

One part of this challenge is to find ways to maintain the shelf life, integrity and freshness of the products. The buyers are currently working on creating resealable bags for nuts.

In addition to what’s going on with the packages, the buyers are also continually looking for opportunities to add to the Kirkland Signature selection at Costco.

The lastest example is the Kirkland Signature Keto Snack Mix, being introduced this month. This mix was developed for members looking for a high-end keto item and is made with almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, macadamias and cheese.

As with all Kirkland Signature items, it’s designed to be a notch above. “It’s not your average keto snack mix,” Knapp says. “You can definitely taste the difference. It’s what you would expect from a Kirkland Signature item.”

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Nuts for Kirkland Signature

There are almost too many Kirkland Signature nuts to list, but why not take a crack at tasting every one? These Kirkland Signature nuts can be found in warehouses and at Costco.com.—CG

Premium Quality Unsalted Mixed Nuts, Item 5288; Whole Almonds, Item 284601; Dry Roasted Almonds, Item 812369.
© COSTCO PHOTO STUDIO

Pistachios, Item 545345; Shelled Pistachios, Item 1076903; Dry Roasted Macadamia Nuts, Item 1195303.
© COSTCO PHOTO STUDIO

Whole Mixed Nuts, Item 321063; Roasted Whole Cashews, Item 18328; Trail Mix, Item 1474436.
© COSTCO PHOTO STUDIO

Pecan Halves, Item 203444; Organic Whole Brazil Nuts, Item 1331629; Walnuts, Item 36285.
© COSTCO PHOTO STUDIO

Variety Snacking Nuts, Item 957330; Roasted Unsalted Whole Cashews, Item 803364.
© COSTCO PHOTO STUDIO

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