- Americans bought 625 million rotisserie chickens at supermarkets in 2017.
- With labor costs and competition rising, more stores are relying on rotisserie chickens to draw customers.
- To continue selling them for $5 to $7 each, executives are working to trim supply-chain costs, cook chickens more efficiently and throw fewer of them away unsold.
- Costco has sold rotisserie chickens for $4.99 since 2009.
- When a bird flu outbreak prompted higher prices for ready-to-cook chickens in 2015, Costco took a $30 million to $40 million profit hit to keep its rotisserie prices steady.
- Commercial chicken farms can get them from hatchling to slaughter in as little as four weeks, one farmer said.
- Most stores display their rotisserie birds under heat lamps for two to four hours, after which they start to dry out. Rather than throw those unsold birds away, some chains are deboning the meat for use in other prepared foods they sell, such as chicken salad or chicken noodle soup.
- “With a four-hour shelf life, there’s not a lot of room to make mistakes,” said Russ Richardson, Kroger Co.’s head of deli.
- The rotisserie craze started in the early 1990s when Boston Chicken, now Boston Market, opened drive-through restaurants selling chicken dinners and sides. Families liked the convenience of a meal that was seen as cheaper and healthier than fast food. Costco and Kroger began selling rotisserie chickens in 1994.
- Nothing else from the ’90s is still this popular today,” said Mariano’s Mr. Fitzgerald.
Learn more (from Annie Gasparro)
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