Who Makes Costco's Kirkland Brand Bacon?

Experienced bulk buy shoppers will always appreciate the deals offered at Costco. But on top of the quantity, there's also some top quality being sold at the warehouse chain. Behind many of Costco's Kirkland branded products are some well known manufacturers. Case in point, the Kirkland brand of bacon.

Kirkland Signature bacon is a private label sold by Costco but produced by a popular bacon brand. Costco is not known for being the most forthcoming about the brands behind its Kirkland items (though its hard seltzers are easy to trace), but a little digging reveals that its bacon may actually come from more than one supplier, including one of the major players in the bacon game, Hormel Foods.

Hormel Foods, a major food company known for its meat manufacturing, was originally suspected to be Costco's bacon supplier. Back in 2005, Supermarket News reported that Hormel Foods was Costco's main bacon supplier and the two were launching a co-branded, thick-sliced, pre-cooked bacon product. However, Hormel recently confirmed that it does not supply Costco's Kirkland Signature bacon. With Hormel eliminated, the next possible major supplier could be Smithfield. Here are the signs that point to this being the brand behind Kirkland bacon.

Just like the theories behind who makes Costco's Kirkland brand vodka, it can be difficult to 100% confirm who makes the warehouse chain's bacon. However, certain facts point to Smithfield (and some third party vendors) as likely being the ones responsible for the thick-cut strips.

Smithfield is allegedly behind 75 to 80% of the bacon sold at Costco. At the same time, the Smithfield brand of bacon and other pork products are sold in many other major grocers like Target and Walmart. On the other hand, bacon is a perishable product that is best enjoyed freshly cut. With that in mind, its also possible that Costco sources the other 20 to 25% of its bacon from local suppliers. Regardless of the name on the label, Costco knows how to sell quality meats. Its famous rotisserie chicken is a testament to that.