Sometimes brand loyalty comes back to bite you. One Alabama woman thought she found the perfect frozen pizza at Costco. But when she went back to repurchase it a while later, she was left deeply disappointed.
The incident has people wondering if every good thing is bound to eventually become a worse version of the product they once loved.
Costco Shopper Says Motor City Pizza ‘Sucks’ Now
In a viral video with more than 186,000 views, Becky (@glorify_grind) called out Motor City Pizza Company for what she says is a major quality downgrade since her first purchase at Costco.
“Do you know—did you know that this was going on in your company? This is really disappointing,” Becky says in the TikTok, showing the pizza.
Becky explains that when she first tried Motor City Pizza Company’s deep dish pizza from Costco, she was genuinely impressed. “We had gotten this last time. And it was delicious. We were shocked for a frozen store-bought pizza. The sides came up. It was deep, deep dish. It was bubbly,” she says.
But her second purchase was a deep disappointment (pun intended).
“Look at this crappy thing. Look at this. What is this? Is this authentic Motor City Pizza Company?” she asks, showing the pizza in the video.
The pizza doesn’t fill up the tray and appears thicker than a traditional pizza but nowhere near the deep dish she was expecting.
“The edges don’t come up. They fan out now,” Becky says, visibly frustrated.
“Do you remember when your pizza used to look like that? That’s what it looked like the first time we got it,” she says holding up the box with the image on it.
Her final verdict? “You know what, this sucks. It sucks.”
In the caption, Becky added a warning to the company, “You gotta keep it up before somebody comes in and takes your customers.”
What Makes Detroit-Style Pizza Special?
To understand Becky’s disappointment, you need to know what authentic Detroit-style pizza is supposed to look like—and it’s not what she got.
Detroit-style pizza is defined by very specific characteristics. According to Pizza Today, it’s “known for being cooked in a rectangular pan with caramelized cheese around the rim and stripes of sauce.” The crust should be “light and crunchy,” typically about 1 to 1.5 inches high.
The pizza’s signature feature is that caramelized cheese crust. The cheese—traditionally Wisconsin Brick cheese, which melts like mozzarella but has a sharper flavor—gets pushed all the way to the edges of the pan, where it caramelizes against the hot metal, creating crispy, golden edges that come up the sides of the pizza.
Originally, Detroit-style pizzas were made in blue steel pans that were once used to clean tools in auto factories. Shops like Buddy’s and Cloverleaf still use these old pans, though blue steel isn’t made anymore, making the remaining pans highly coveted.
The height and those distinctive tall, crispy edges are what separate Detroit-style from other pizzas. As Pizza Today notes, the crust has “a crumb structure that was tighter with many small bubbles” and “a crunch on the bottom” from contact with the pan, but it should still be tender inside.
The Motor City Pizza Controversy: What Went Wrong?
Becky isn’t alone in her disappointment. When Motor City Pizza first hit Costco shelves, it was an instant sensation, but somewhere along the way, loyal customers started noticing changes.
In a 2023 review, The Kitchn raved about the product. The reviewer described the crust as “soft and tender (reminiscent of fresh focaccia)” and praised the “bold tomato sauce, which was bright and tangy.” At $12.99 for two pizzas, it seemed like an unbeatable deal.
But fast-forward to 2024, and the Costco subreddit tells a very different story. A post titled “It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago people were raving about Motor City Pizza” gained over 2,500 upvotes, with the poster writing, “This is apparently what passes for Motor City Pizza nowadays. Damned thing may as well be on a frozen saltine cracker. There might be 3 tablespoons of sauce on this ‘pizza.'”
“They recently did a downgrade. The cheese is no longer clearly shredded but instead like crumbly lumps which don’t melt as well that I associate with cheaper stuff. The crust is different too,” a Reddtor chimed in.
Despite the complaints, some customers still defend the pizza. One Redditor wrote, “I still get it, and I still very much enjoy it.” Another said it’s “leagues above all the other frozen pizzas,” though they admitted “it’s no Jets pizza”—a reference to the popular Detroit-style pizza chain that many consider the gold standard for the style.
@glorify_grind You gotta keep it up before somebody comes in and takes your customers. @Motor City Pizza Co. #fyp #pizzalover #pizzalovers #dobetter
Commenters React
“I am surprised that people are still buying frozen pizza. For a couple bucks more you can get a fresh made pizza,” a top comment read.
“Ole bait and switch. They got popular and cut corners once customer based established,” a person said.
“I buy zero frozen pizzas. Why am I paying you 999 to cook it myself when Domino’s has a large 799 carry out all week and it’s not frozen,” another wrote.
“Something has happened to all frozen pizza. It’s all bad now,” a commenter added.
BroBible reached out to Becky for comment via TikTok direct message and comment and to Motor City Pizza Company via email.