BUSINESS

Your day-ahead look for Sept. 22, 2026

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Costco’s Kirkland Signature line has developed a reputation for quality, and that reputation extends to its alcoholic offerings

That includes a wide array of wines.

“Selections are uniformly excellent across price points, regions, and categories, but Kirkland brand table wines are some of the best bottles you can get at retail, bar none,” Danielle Callegari, a Wine Enthusiast writer-at-large, said.

Its liquor offerings have been similarly celebrated.

“If you live in one of the states that allows Costco to sell its Kirkland Signature booze, consider yourself lucky, because spirits experts say the store-brand spirits are dead ringers for the top-shelf stuff — and they’re usually 20 to 40% cheaper,” The Ktchn shared.

Costco partners with well-known brands, which are often not named, to make their wine, spirits, and, until recently, beer.

Now, however, after its last remaining beer partner stopped producing the final two Kirkland Signature beers. Production ended in July, and many warehouses have run out of stock, which was expected to run out by October.

Costco ended its beer partnership

Costco has ended a co-branded partnership with Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery that launched in December 2024. The brewery made Kirkland Signature Helles-Style Lager and Kirkland Signature Vintage Ale for the retailer.

Costco Wine Blog, which is not affiliated with the retailer, reviewed the Kirkland Signature Helles-Style Lager when it was released.

“The beer is a pale gold in the glass; it is slightly sweet, lightly hopped, malty and yeasty, well made with a great body to it, and has a nice crisp finish,” the site reported.

It was also sold for $13.99 per 12-pack, not much more than $1 per can.

Guru of Brew reviewed the Kirkland Signature Vintage Ale.

“Aged for nine months in a mix of bourbon barrels. This robust imperial stout was meticulously crafted by Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon, with notes of dark chocolate and roasted coffee,” the site shared

Kirkland Signature Vintage Ale sells for $7.99 a bottle, as it was meant to be a higher-end product.

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Now, production has ended on both beers, and searches for both on Costco’s website, using multiple zip codes from states all around the country, show the beer as not just out of stock, but not listed anymore.

That does not mean that the beer has fully sold out, as while production ended in July, stock was expected to last into September.

Some Costco warehouses may still have the beers in stock.Shutterstock

Costco has ended Kirkland Signature beer production

Costco did not make a statement on the end of the partnership.

Deschutes Brewery, however, confirmed to Fox Business that its program with Costco is coming to an end.

“We’re so grateful for Costco’s trust in Deschutes to bring our award-winning beer to their members at such a great value,” the company said. “We’ve reached the end of our volume commitment and, therefore, the program is winding down. We’ve been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for the beer from Costco members since the announcement. The feedback on the beer has been exceptional, and it’s clear that the beer has built a fanbase across the U.S. and internationally.”

These were the only two remaining Kirkland Signature beers, so when the stock sells out, Costco will no longer have a private label beer.

The World Beer Cup awarded Kirkland Signature Helles Lager silver and bronze medals in 2025 and 2026, respectively, according to OverProof.com.

Kirkland Signature is big business for Costco

Costco locations do not have liquor stores here in Southern Florida, but when living in other states, I often purchased Kirkland Signature bourbon and scotch.

The warehouse club did not disclose who made their liquors, but as a fan and a bit of an aficionado who has been lucky enough to cover the liquor industry for around 30 years, they compared favorably to everyday brands like Jack Daniel’s or Knob Creek, at much lower prices.

None of the chain’s spirits that I have tried would count as top shelf, but they were highly drinkable and very good values.

That’s essentially how Kirkland Signature operates across all categories, and it’s hard to understate just how important the house brand is to Costco.

Costco reported total sales of $269.9 billion in its 2025 annual report, with $90 billion, roughly a third, coming from Kirkland Signature.

RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino shared that it’s not unusual for Costco to discontinue a Kirkland Signature item.

“It’s simply an economics of space. The average retailer could have 10,000 to 15,000 SKUs, but Costco could have 3,500 to 4,000,” he told TheStreet. That’s a significant difference (and a Walmart or Target could have two to three times that many products). So, yes, they’re going to be most efficient and only stock the shelves with what they think will sell.”

Costco has not commented on whether it plans to introduce a new Kirkland Signature beer at a later date.

ALSO READ: Costco quietly drops brand-new Pepsi soda from its warehouses

“We have no debt and own our primary home, a vacation home, as well as my mother’s home in another state.”

Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) is using Palantir Technologies (PLTR) to solve a unique problem: how to determine which of its locations might be at higher risk for food safety issues.

The burrito chain is piloting a Food Safety Risk Management Platform built on Palantir’s Foundry software, according to WIRED. Screenshots reviewed by the publication indicate that the system can combine information, including health department scores, pest incidents, and employee illnesses, to assign a risk level for food safety to individual restaurants.

Chipotle confirmed the pilot but did not disclose when the relationship began or how widely it has deployed the platform. Chipotle’s chief corporate affairs and food safety officer, Laurie Schalow, said the system will centralize food safety risk and help teams identify trends and prioritize follow-up.

For a company with thousands of restaurants, that could be a big deal.

The company said in its latest quarterly filing that it had 4,186 company-owned restaurants, including 4,074 in the U.S., as of June 30.

The timing is also worth noting. Federal health officials have dealt with a few big foodborne outbreaks this summer, including a Cyclospora outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce and a Salmonella outbreak linked to jalapeños.

Palantir is turning food safety into a data problem

The Chipotle deal is part of a bigger effort by Palantir to grow its commercial operations.

Foundry is built to unify diverse data sources into a uniform operational environment. For a restaurant franchise, it might involve mashing together information that used to be in separate systems.

Chipotle restaurants: 4,186

U.S. restaurants: 4,074

Platform: Palantir Foundry

Pilot: Food Safety Risk Management Platform

Data points: Health scores, pest incidents and employee illnesses

Goal: Identify trends and prioritize follow-up

In the instance of Chipotle, the platform seems to aggregate restaurant health inspections, insect activity, and staff sickness information to provide a more consolidated picture of possible danger, WIRED reported.

Related: Chipotle makes a key change to make your meals better

The difference is substantial since food safety issues may happen at several sites.

According to Chipotle’s own annual report, food safety threats might come from restaurant staff, suppliers, distributors, or tainted products. The corporation also cautions that food safety accidents may harm its brand, hurt sales, and raise expenses.

That makes a system that can detect trends across thousands of locations potentially useful.

It also explains why Palantir’s commercial opportunity isn’t just for traditional technology companies.

A difficult summer made the timing especially interesting

The partnership comes after a series of food safety incidents across the U.S.

The FDA’s iceberg lettuce Cyclospora outbreak investigation found 12,883 illnesses, 570 hospitalizations, and two deaths in 21 states. The CDC declared the outbreak over Sept. 11, but the FDA is still investigating.

Chipotle wasn’t involved in the lettuce incident since it doesn’t serve iceberg lettuce.

A related Salmonella incident involving jalapeño peppers proved more relevant to Mexican-style eateries. As of Aug. 19, the CDC said there were 431 cases reported across 32 states and 57 hospitalizations.

The FDA said people in the outbreak had reported eating at Mexican-style restaurants, including Chipotle and QDOBA, although the agency’s investigation did not establish that Chipotle was the source.

Chipotle and QDOBA stopped using the affected jalapeños after being notified and were not considered ongoing risks to consumers in that outbreak, the CDC said specifically.

That is an important distinction. That is an important distinction.

The Palantir project is not evidence that Chipotle has a current food safety outbreak. Instead, it shows how the restaurant is attempting to identify potential risks before they become larger operational problems.

Chipotle has a food safety problem. Palantir has a new tool.Bloomberg / Getty Images

Palantir already knows the food supply chain

This isn’t Palantir’s first foray into food and drinks.

The startup has partnered with Tyson Foods (TSN), General Mills (GIS) and the buying cooperative that serves Wendy’s (WEN). Foundry may be used to manage inventories, follow the supply chain, and detect any shortages, WIRED wrote.

Palantir also has a history of working with the federal government on food supply chains.

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In 2022, the FDA extended its collaboration with Palantir via the 21 FORWARD program, which uses Palantir’s platform to monitor food supply chain disruptions and enhance crisis response. It was a deal for $22 million.

Separately, the FDA designated Palantir Foundry as the technology powering its Diagnostic Data Evidence and Ecosystem platform, which combines real-world data and evidence to speed up regulatory processing.

So for Palantir, Chipotle is just another example of the same fundamental proposition: take vast volumes of fragmented operational information and transform it into something management can act on.

Palantir’s commercial business is becoming harder to ignore

The Chipotle relationship arrives as Palantir’s commercial business is expanding rapidly.

In the second quarter, Palantir’s U.S. commercial revenue rose 149% year over year to $764 million, according to its latest investor presentation. Overall revenue increased 93% to $1.935 billion.

Palantir’s SEC filing showed commercial revenue was up 110% year-over-year in the quarter, with overall revenue up 93%.

The company also reported that U.S. commercial remaining deal value reached $6.24 billion, an increase of 124% year-over-year.

That provides more meaning to the Chipotle transaction.

It’s another example of Palantir trying to make its data infrastructure a tool for ordinary company operations rather than restricting its target market to government and military clients.

Chipotle is testing whether more data can mean fewer surprises

For Chipotle, the benefit is operational, not just technical.

The firm has been busy building restaurants at a quick pace, adding 100 company-owned locations in the second quarter alone. Its revenue jumped 9.3% year over year to $3.3 billion. Same-store sales were up 2.2%.

Managing food safety across more than 4,000 restaurants in the U.S. poses a data management difficulty.

Palantir’s platform may provide Chipotle yet another approach to surfacing trends and directing focus to restaurants or concerns that need follow-up.

But the firm hasn’t said how extensively the platform is being used, whether it has altered operational results or if it will ultimately be rolled out throughout the restaurant system.

That implies investors should see the idea as a test, not yet as a proved financial generator.

But for Palantir, it may be much more important.

Palantir’s software is also entering normal business operations, such as a restaurant using Foundry to track food safety.

Related: Veteran analyst resets Palantir price target for rest of 2026

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