The idea of Mario Kart characters eating various foods and transforming into different costumes originally started as two different ideas. According to Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8 director Kosuke Yabuki, the team almost considered having players buy costumes for specific characters using in-game coins (similar to the way players buy alternate-costumed characters in Mario Kart Tour), with players having to drive to a clothing store rather than the "Yoshi's" fast-food restaurant.

Additionally, the idea of characters eating food was already considered at the very beginning of development, but was nearly removed. According to general game designer Shintaro Jikumaru: