Jump to content

100 million rotisserie chickens at $4.99/bird The Costco Dilemma


DaveO

Recommended Posts

Its quite obvious there are quite a few rotisserie chicken fans out there and in this forum.  Costco is the bank breaker.  They have kept there rotisserie chickens at $4.99/bird. And their annual sales are now around 100 million of them. That is a helluva deal and a crazy amount of chickens.  Rotisserie chicken prices have gone up everywhere else.  So how are they coping with this challenge?   You can find the story here

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

100 million 6 lb chickens sold at $4.99 highlights how worthless and hopelessly irredeemable the US commodity food system is. Cheap chickens are terrible for the farmers, terrible for the chickens, terrible for the environment and terrible nutrition for the consumer. Even at $6-$8 ($2/lb), it is baffling that all parties involved from the egg to the rotisserie are getting paid a modern wage and no animal or humans should suffer such an indignity.

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think I mentioned this in the Kinship thread but it bears repeating. 

A few years ago in fairly typical fashion, I over ordered at Kinship and one of the dishes was the Roast Chicken.  By the time it arrived, we were pretty stuffed and we ended up taking a lot of it home.  They packaged up in little cardboard boxes like take out Chinese is served in, the only difference was these were brown.  Anyhow my son ate a bunch of it that night and the boxes got lost in the fridge somehow and I didn't discover them until 6 days later.  When I tried the chicken it was still more moist than a Costco chicken fresh from the store! 

The Kinship chicken sat in the 'fridge in a cardboard box for almost a week and it was still better than just-purchased Costco chicken!!  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Ericandblueboy said:

I think Safeway sells their rotisserie chicken for $6.99 usually and $5.99 on sale.  The kids don't like them so I don't buy them.

Hate to admit this but your kids have better taste than me.  I still buy them.  Easiest dinner out there.  And yeah, I don't like them either, but I do buy them and eat them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am not a big fan of the Costco model itself, I think it likely contributes a lot to food waste.  I don't really love the rotisserie chicken you get in grocery stores.  They all seem dry to me.  Which is odd, there is a store in Garrett County called Arrowhead that had a wall of actual rotisserie chickens roasting, I think they might still have this.  The smell was delicious, as was the taste, I am not sure why these were so different.  I do get them every now and then, mainly when we are not feeling well and need something basic or the fridge is real empty, but it isn't often. I can see why other people do though.  Most of us on this board have the luxury of being able to afford better, which is a nice option to have. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not saying the quality of the chickens themselves is any better, but why anyone would buy rotisserie chicken at CostCo instead of the Lee Heights Shopping Center Crisp and Juicy is beyond me (I know, I know, "you're already there" and "it's about half the price" - fair enough). I had Crisp and Juicy last week and it was as good as ever (the yuca is inconsistent, but the chicken has the best flavor of any Pollo a la Brasa in town, IMO).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, DonRocks said:

(I know, I know, "you're already there" and "it's about half the price" - fair enough

nuff said.  

having said that I get rotisserie chicken from several Peruvian chicken places in the region.  They are infinitely better. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Poivrot Farci said:

It is all but certain that the birds used at Crisp & Juicy or any Peruvian place are the same tortured Cornish cross birds grown in confinement that never see the light of day, just like those of CostCo.  Charcoal does not undo any of the countless liabilities of shitilly raised chickens.

Yeah, I really wish you hadn't said that, because I don't want to hear it. But, yeah.

Comet Ping-Pong. Those drumsticks are free-roaming chickens - they have to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...