Custom cakes and party platters from Costco are now available for same-day delivery for the first time, through both the Instacart marketplace and sameday.costco.com — an expansion of a nine-year retail technology partnership that deepens the grocer's digital perimeter-department capabilities.
The new offering covers custom sheet cakes and 10-inch round cakes — which customers can personalize and order in advance online — alongside sandwich platters, shrimp trays, and fruit platters. Orders are fulfilled from Costco warehouse locations nationwide.
The Technology Layer
The launch is powered by FoodStorm, Instacart's end-to-end order management system for grocery perimeter departments including bakery and deli. FoodStorm connects Costco's in-warehouse production teams directly to incoming digital orders, enabling made-to-order customization at scale — a capability that has historically been difficult to translate into e-commerce fulfillment. The integration positions Instacart's enterprise platform as a more complete operating layer for high-touch grocery categories, not merely a last-mile logistics pipe.
"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," said Ryan Hamburger, Chief Commercial Officer at Instacart.
A Partnership With Growing Scope
Instacart and Costco have been partners since 2017, when the two companies launched same-day delivery through the Instacart Marketplace. In the years since, the relationship has expanded significantly in both geography and functionality. Costco now operates same-day e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, Spain, and France, all powered by Instacart's Storefront Pro technology. Additional integrations include EBT SNAP payment acceptance, alcohol delivery, a monthly $10 credit for Costco Executive Members on eligible orders, and the addition of Costco Business Centre in Canada.
The bakery and deli expansion reflects a broader industry trend: grocery operators are under increasing pressure to digitize high-margin perimeter departments — prepared foods, custom cakes, deli counters — that have traditionally demanded in-store interaction. For retailers like Costco, whose warehouse bakeries have near-cult-status among members, extending that assortment online without sacrificing customization or quality is both a competitive differentiator and an operational challenge. Instacart's FoodStorm, acquired to address precisely this gap, is now handling production-workflow routing at one of the highest-volume warehouse club operators in North America.
For foodservice and grocery technology observers, the move also signals continued consolidation of the retail e-commerce stack around a small number of enterprise platform providers. Instacart, which partners with more than 2,200 retail banners representing nearly 100,000 stores, is leveraging that footprint to cross-sell deeper operational tools — a strategy that shifts its revenue model beyond transaction-based delivery fees toward recurring enterprise software relationships.
Readers tracking the evolution of grocery e-commerce can find additional context in our coverage of perimeter department digitization trends and Instacart's enterprise platform strategy.
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.
