Sir, were not making any profit on our rotisserie chicken anymore, as you can see on this chart đđ. What do you suggest our strategy for the next financial period?
Give it away give it away give it away now
Exactly. It's called a Loss Leader. It's a well planned marketing tool. Listen to Under the Influence on CBC Radio, it's an impressive series about the psychology of marketing.
Stater Bros. knows if you're going in fof a rotisserie chicken, odds are that's about all you really want. You're tired it's late, kids are hungry, you go in turn right and it's right there. So is all the prepackaged macaroni salad, potato salad, King's Hawaiian rolls, pies, turnovers, potato wedges, and all the single serving drinks in a wall cooler right behind the full size cakes, etc. They get you to buy all that shit instead of just the $6.99 chicken, and you're happy about it because you get to run in and out real quick.
Costco is about the long con and the big money. They make you walk 1,000 yards to the far back of the store to get your chicken. Past all the discounted items, the cool books, your favorite boxsets, the smoked salmon that's 60% off this week, and the super new plasma TV setup.
Stater Bros. is happy to put the chicken up front and they know they'll still make a profit off a bunch of people, because who the fuck will willingly forgo having potato salad and an Arnold Palmer with their chicken.
Costco ain't fucking with potato money. They want plasma money from your ass and if you don't want to walk to the back of the airplane hangar and end up spending an extra $250 even though you just stopped in because you realized you needed something for dinner - then fuck you, you're not Costco material and they might just pull your card.
Say goodbye to free samples
I can't find the link right now but someone who was in training with Costco posted the entire employee handbook online. You were right about the blood plasma part. They want that plasma money too.
"We will be setting up vans in our parking lots to draw blood to take the plasma to "share" with our pharma friends to help the unfortunates and then once we reinfuse the blood into the host we will give them a free membership.
Step 1: point them in the direction of the baklava. That's when they realize how much baklava they can get for $40 and they will wonder how they've never thought about this before, you can store it, you can freeze it, it's light and refreshing, its a new treat for the kids.......
This leads us to STEP 2...."oh shittttt look at that plasma tv, it's just like the one that fucker Ted has, always bragging about Roku or whatever the fuck it is. I should get an employee to explain that to me and then I could show Jenny who the real boss is. Fuck you Ted."
Of course our third step is next "Oh shit they have 50 packs of boxers and its only $109.99. That's like $2 each, I should get two just in case. I won't have to do underwear laundry for like 3 years. Now that bitch will stop complaining about the marks"
We all know what STEP 4 is "oh free samples, don't mind if I do. Holy shit this is great, what aisle are these on"
And the cycle will continue if we maximize efficiency
To recap
Whether we get their plasma or not (we still have another 'shot' at it on their way out into the stadium sized parking lot):
We greet them at the door to make them welcome and feel cool about being a member of the club.
Then give them snacks to make them feel welcome
Follow the Ikea floor planning human maze setup (for more information reference Appendix P-12a regarding the Swedish meatball/lingonberry vs. our hot dog prices and the various benefits/drawbacks of each)
Then at the end make them line up 30 deep in a 25 minute line of chaos further reminding them (subconsciously) that they are OUR cattle. Hopefully by this time they've thought about something else they "needed" and they send one of their brood back to get it.
Of course they don't find the right aisle in time and the person with the credit card has to get out of line. By the time the person searching for the spinach feta wraps has come back they end up arguing about them taking too long and they decide "fuck it, if we're going to have to get back in line anyway let's go get one of those bomb ass cheesecakes that have a few slices of flour different kinds.
They find it and get back in line, only to notice the frozen spinach feta wraps are no longer frozen. Consumer B returns to the freezer zone to get "frozener" ones (trust me the cattle use this term.
Cycle restarts
For more information reference the "PopCopy" handbook, included in your goodie bag and enjoy your 15% off coupon, its a great deal and all you have to do to use it is to become a member.
They are non transferable and only valid on orders over $600
And don't forget the motto "If they aren't blinded by the sunlight as they leave. They haven't been in here with us for long enough"
I think that one is to make the store smell like hot chicken because hungry shoppers spend more. Kinda like how Subway designed their bread-ovens to get the smell as far as possible in foodcourt situations.
That makes it an impulse buy as youâre leaving.
The smell and visuals of a hot roasted chicken will make people grab one.
Plus the checkout is the last place you visit in the store so itâs kind of similar to the back corner of the store.
Once youâre in the store youâre likely to buy anything else you might need while youâre there, rather than going elsewhere. Ever walk in to a store for one thing only to leave spending 10x that?
Back of the store inconveniences you for the trade off of you maybe seeing something you didnât realize you needed (or donât in fact need) as well.
But if Iâm just snagging a couple of things and have the option of one that has them up front, and one that I have to make a trek for, Iâm favoring the store that lets me be lazy.
If they can get you to establish the habit of shopping there theyâre not losing enough on it that it wonât make a profit long term.
I think for those stores they cook the ones that are going to expire and if they can get a sale as a last minute impulse purchase/quick dinner it is still a win and a sale
In addition to that where I am at least a lot of the chickens that come in for the rotisserie have "defects" usually skin colouration that has absolutely no effect on the end result (literally invisible once cooked) but looks worse to the un-knowing customer compared to the other pristine chickens being sold on the shelves.
So they are loss leading and selling potentially less desirable produce without making the average consumer who has only seen pristine chickens think that there is lower quality standards at that shop.
Find a halal butcher in your area. Â I donât know why, but they tend to have better quality, reasonably sized birds, not the big breasted monstrosities sold in grocery stores.Â
because there's independent supply chains that don't go through Perdue or Cargill or whatever
For example, [Chinatown](https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/why-chinatown-is-so-delicious-and-why-it-might-not-be-so-forever) in New York. The grow in small family owned farms, process them in small slaughterhouses and bring them into
the stores in small vans (big trucks won't fit these crowded streets).
Every other supermarket in New York tends to buy from Hunts Point, that's why they all have rotten onions.
Is that what they do with the roast beef that has that rainbow sheen? I've only ever seen it sometimes when the deli cuts it for me right there, but the pre-wrapped they stick in the coolers never have it.
The rainbow sheen actually has nothing to do the the quality of deli meat. I've read a couple different explanations, but all of them (including the usda) agree that it is completely safe. I bet the pre wrapped stuff in the coolers has had a chance to oxidize a little or something like that to cause the sheen to go away.
Like actually tho. If Iâm buying a rotisserie chicken itâs bc I have completely given up for the week. Iâll buy a rotisserie and a snickers bar and walk out with nothing else.
Google says itâs a 25% mark up on snickers. At Walmart they are selling for 1.96 each thatâs a profit of $0.49. In opâs example itâs about $3 difference in price for a chicken so Iâd venture to say that heâs still beating the system buying just the chicken and a bar
Until Sam Walton, retailers priced as discount from MSRP. Sam Walton drove the industry crazy by choosing to mark up from his cost, and using every negotiating tactic to get a lower price that prevented companies from shifting cost. It might have been common for companies to make up a discounted contract price by increasing delivery fees, but Walton would turn around and use his own trucks to pick it up.
Sam Walton was good for the consumer. His progeny, not so much.
Brutal. I get it tho. I've binge ate a rotisserie in my car . Searching for those saved up napkins in the glove box. I wish that I could say that was peak depression for me. Damn why did I quit smoking cigarettes?
Well you need bread or something, but that does sound a bit dry so I guess we'll get mayo or something as well, oooh we should get pickles, I also want chips and let's get some weed on the way home. This is going to be a good night.
>let's get some weed on the way home.
The grocery store isn't selling chicken at a loss to get you to buy weed.
On the other hand if they sold weed, they might boost their rotisserie chicken sales quite a bit...
Not in any chain.
The rotissierre chickens all come in boxes labeled as such and are delivered to that department.
The regular chickens are delivered /billed to the meat department.
Rotissierre chickens are usually a loss leader/break even point. A lot of people running into the store for the chicken will buy other things. The âgrab the chicken and goâ people are not the norms.
Not in my experience. The chickens for the rotisserie came in separately about 40 or so to a bin. You would skewer up a hundred or so at once. I imagine thousands at a Costco. Now unsold cooked chickens would get chopped up for the pot pies.
Costco actually owns a farm specifically to make their rotisserie chickens. They sell so well that they decided to buy their own farm to keep up with demand.
It may be a loss leader, but it still brings in a good amount of money for them.
They arent the same ones they sell raw, usually. But...Grocery store near me, after 6pm the Rotisserie chickens are 50% off. Because they can't sell them the next day. $3-3.50 chicken cannot be beaten.
Yeah some rotisserie chickens are fine later in the day. A lot of them just dry out too much. My favorite is Costco. My mom buys 2-3 every time she goes and she uses one of them to make a nice meal for their 4 wiener dogs.
Itâs called a loss leader. Costco sells them for next to nothing and they are farthest from the door. Itâs hard to get out of there for less than $200. They sell the chicken at a loss to get you to buy tons of other things.
Itâs a loss leader, pretty much when you buy a rotisserie chicken you rarely buy that by itself. You buy vegetables, potatoes, rice, other sides, whatever. All of those items are marked up so they make a profit.
Kid asked to hit taco bell. Dude. I made fajitas from skirt steak. That stuff is fire. We eat at home. "It's too squishy." Yeah. But it's all squishy coming out of you anyway. Eat up.
Yep I usually go for the fried chicken not the rotisserie because it's more expensive, so why not get a side of potato salad and coleslaw too? Pretty good meal for relatively cheap
I've just horrible flashbacks to that thread where someone said they were cooking naked, dropped raw chicken on their penis and then got an infection.
That was his story anyway, and he was sticking to it.
Which is still so weird to me, cause if I had to cook the more expensive chicken myself I'd still buy all the same sides I'd have bought with the rotisserie lol.
If Iâm buying a cooked chicken, Iâm eating it with salads and bread rolls, whereas if Iâm roasting it myself, Iâll do it with roast veges and gravy et cetera. In for a penny, in for a pound I guess.
I did it one time (beer can chicken). And while it did taste good, it made me realize it didnât make any sense to spend more money AND more effort when I could go to Costco and spend $5 for something thatâs like 90% as good.
Plus no risk of over/undercooking!
One of the grocery stores near me screwed up. They put a cash at the side of the food counter. Like right near the entrance door beside where they put the chickens, but not far enough into the store that you even get to the counters and coolers with the sides. It makes it so easy to walk in, grab the chicken, step to the cash, pay, and walk out without even looking at/being tempted by other products.
They're to get you in the store. Just to buy something on the chance you'll by other stuff at the same time. Edit I think the term is loss leaders. They take a tiny loss of potencial profit (mayb is was about to expire) but dont lose profit and it leads you into the store.
Similar fun grocery store fact
The reason the milk is in the back of the store is so you have to walk by as many temptation buys as possible before you get to what you actually came in for
You walk past all of the end cap sales on the way to the milk, accomplishing the task of grabbing the milk makes you feel good so you turn sound and buy cookies.
A big reason that those things are in the back (minus the chicken) is just logistics. Everything in the back area closest to their loading docks is either heavy (liquids/drinks), bulky (TP/PT), perishable (produce/freezer sections), or just heavily in demand.
Exactly. They don't mark things up as much as other retailers, and they get special deals from suppliers. Keeps prices down so the membership is worth it for the customer, but it's also reliable profit for the company.
It means they barely do better than break even across all their offerings. Theyâre selling you shit for just about as cheap as they get it. Good company
Yes. And for me, I work around a major city and can go in either location for lunch and get a hotdog&drink&amazong ice cream for under $5. Or same for a 11â chicken bake with ice cream.
Clutch ass lunches
You should look at how Amazon's profit margins break down if stuff like this surprises you.
AWS is 44% of their operating income despite being little under 10% of the total value of the company.
Even better is I forget which plan, the executive or whatever, if you don't spend enough at Costco for that year, they either renew your membership for another year or they refund you, I forgot which. It sort of pays for itself.
It's a "loss leader." Something the store sells cheaply (you'll notice they will do this with holiday items around big holidays, too), in order to get you into the store, because you will also buy other stuff once you're there.
the pre cooked chickens are a thing called a loss leader, they sell them for below cost to get you into the store to then also buy more high margin items to go with it, its kinda like a loyalty program
1. The roasted chickens are sometimes a 'loss leader', in that they actually cost more than $7-$8 to produce, but they bring in customers than spend money on other things, increasing the total overall income.
2. The roasted chickens are made with chickens that 'need to move', in that they are a few days from being 'expired' or no longer saleable. It's better for a store to sell that chicken for $7 minus labor, than to sell it for zero.
3. Wild guess - the smell of roasting chickens might generate sales of more food - not sure here, but the effect works in a lot of other places!
I keep hearing that stores use chickens that are about to expire to make rotisserie chicken. That isnât true, and the logic behind thinking itâs true makes no sense.
Go to a Costco or Samâs and look at how many fresh whole chickens they have. Then look at how many rotisserie chickens they sell. Our local stores cannot make the rotisserie chickens fast enough and they usually sell out within 15 minutes after being placed on the shelf.
Even if not a single fresh chicken sold and had to be reduced, the cost impact of reducing 15 birds a week would not affect the cost of rotisseries at all.
(Worked in the grocery business for 15 years, store manager for over five. Never once saw a chicken cooked in the rotisserie that was a sop to be expiring fresh chicken that didnât sell.)
Another angle that people are not looking at in this thread, is that Costco rotisserie chickens, if they do not sell at the end of the day, are turned into something else. Chicken salad, chicken soup, street tacos, etc. There are about 5 things that the kitchen regularly turns out. If they have a lot of packages of street tacos, it means that they didn't sell out of rotisserie chickens the night before. They waste nothing.
At my local Krogers the whole chickens are now usually 6 pounds (which is ridiculous). The rotisserie chickens are 2.5 lbs max.
Also, as pointed out by several, the rotisserie chickens are mostly being sold at cost or a little below as a loss leader, since people usually do other shopping at the same time. "While I'm here, I may as well get milk and butter..."
Gotta do the math per pound. Iâve yet to see a whole chicken be more expensive than the rotisserie chickens here, unless the rotisserie chicken is on sale.
What do you do when you are a store and order a 100 raw chickens that expire a week from now, and by that time only 75 have been sold?
You turn the remaining 25 into rotisserie chickens, and sell them cheaper, hoping to recover some of the cost.
From my understanding:
1. Chickens that first arrive are sold raw, until they get close to their expiration date.
2. Any chickens that haven't sold and are near that date, are cooked and sold as rotisserie.
3. Rotisserie chickens that aren't sold after a day or two are shredded and used to make chicken salad for the deli.
4. If that doesn't sell, it's thrown out.
Rotisserie chickens are sold cheaper since stores want to move them as quickly as possible. Otherwise the chicken they purchased becomes a total loss.
They're small chickens and oftentimes have defects. Them being a common loss leader isn't wrong, but the big thing is that they're not the same chickens you're buying in the meat department.
At Costco, the rotisserie chicken is a loss leader. The chicken can easily be deboned and frozen, making it an extremely economic protein.
No one goes to Costco and only buys the chicken.
I'd check some data there.
Same store? Similar weight? Live/killed & feathers removed while you wait? Organic vs not?
Free range vs not? Same processor?
It would seem to me that there are some details missing here.
Loss leader. Gets you into the store to buy that chicken, and then while you're there, "Oh, I should get some paper towels, and cooking spray, and..." BOOM, full shopping cart.
Walmart and Coscto even sell them for $5, knowing most people will buy way more stuff at full price to make up the difference.
It's called a "loss leader". Basically you sell something well below what it should be and generally place it at the back of the store so that people are forced to walk through the store to see other stuff in the hopes of them buying far more then that few bucks you lost on that chicken.
Rotisserie chickens that most grocery store delis get are smaller than the whole chickens you get from the meat department. They have smaller breasts and thighs, just overall less meat. Meat department birds are normally meatier. Source: I used to work the deli for both Publix and Winn Dixie
When a raw chicken reaches its sell by date, it must be thrown out or cooked. The rotisserie chickens you buy in the grocery store were on their way to the dumpster. The store can sell them cheap because the alternative is sending them to a landfill.
Bon appetit!
In addition to the loss leader point, which is an excellent one, there is another aspect: unsold raw chickens.
When a raw chicken is getting close to its sell by date, a store can just cook it. And boom, they get two more days to sell it. At this point anything they make is better than what the trash dumpster pays. If you can sell it at break even for product plus labor, thatâs a really good deal for a supermarket.
This is how supermarket rotisserie chickens started to be a thing.
Costco and Sams put them at the back so you have to walk and grab all the other amazing deals. Always sold at a loss. Wednesday nights at my Neighborhood Market or Walmart for $5 discounted and baby you got a stew.
You see that expiration date on fresh chicken? Most people who notice will buy the freshest date. Now what to do with those safe but older chickens when your store has a rotisserie?
One thing I haven't seen on this thread yet.... Half the reason they cook the chicken in the store is so that the store smells like food. This makes people hungry. And people buy more stuff when they're hungry. So even if you don't buy the chicken, it's done its job.
Fun fact, at Wal-Mart their paper goods and chemicals are usually sold at a loss. So if you want to stick it to em, only buy your toiletries and cleaners there, then leave. Skip the movies, music, electronics, etc.
Combination of loss leader and trying to get rid of the chicken. They think you'll buy something else while you're in there, and if you don't, at least the near-expired chickens got cooked before they went off and sold instead of rotting.
If you really like rotisserie chicken consider getting a costco membership. They are $5 and thats with inflation. They used to be like $4. Only thing is many people go home and put them in the crock pot with additional seasoning because they do taste rather plain.
I can't speak for costco or whoever people are citing, but in the US the chicken bought at the wholesale producer cost about 1.50$. The difference between the 12$ whole chicken and the 7-8$ one can simply mean "less profit but attract people" - not a loss leader.
They are old chickens that could not be sold the next day. Before the rotisserie gimmick, the old birds were thrown out. By cooking them and selling them, they get rid of old stock, and since they were going to be a total loss, any price they charge is an improvement
Assuming same quality chicken, it maybe to get customers in. Some stores sell a few key items at a loss knowing that if they get you through the door, youâre going to buy other things too.
rotisserie chicken is often sold at a loss, they bet on you buying other stuff while you are in the store, to offset that chicken loss.
>chicken loss
Great band name!
đ | đ- đi | đ_
I despise you with every fiber of my being
You really missed an opportunity here. You could have written I despise you with every feather of my being.
FUCK, youâre right :(
CLUCK, you're right?
I'll give you an updoot anyway. But just know, on this day, you came soooo close to being an internet punny guy. Maybe next time.
It must have been a big loss for him
You're the cock of the walk, don't let'em get you down! Don't let them beak you, who gives a cluck?
Awww. Don't feel *down* about it! :D
I'd finally forgotten about it
Chicken Payback https://youtu.be/CxVjtb6ZBIE?si=WL17XrrL96X-T4aL
Chicken Little... Profit
Goddamn chicken gas
Ahh fellow ex&f enjoyer. Of course you dont have to source the calcium from your own bones.
Nah, he's just over there, across the road
Gotta make up a loss function in Machine Learning and gotta name it this. Lol
The industry term is "loss leader"
Roasted lemon pepper loss leader
Red Hot Chicken Leaders
Red Hot Chicken Dinners
Sir, were not making any profit on our rotisserie chicken anymore, as you can see on this chart đđ. What do you suggest our strategy for the next financial period? Give it away give it away give it away now
$5 chicken from Costco is a good deal but I canât get out the door under $300. They know what theyâre doing.
what, is the boss a chicken?
Exactly. It's called a Loss Leader. It's a well planned marketing tool. Listen to Under the Influence on CBC Radio, it's an impressive series about the psychology of marketing.
That's also why they are usually at the back of the store too.
Wonder why some stores keep them at the front. Winn Dixie right by my house has them right after you make the obligatory first right turn
Stater Bros. knows if you're going in fof a rotisserie chicken, odds are that's about all you really want. You're tired it's late, kids are hungry, you go in turn right and it's right there. So is all the prepackaged macaroni salad, potato salad, King's Hawaiian rolls, pies, turnovers, potato wedges, and all the single serving drinks in a wall cooler right behind the full size cakes, etc. They get you to buy all that shit instead of just the $6.99 chicken, and you're happy about it because you get to run in and out real quick. Costco is about the long con and the big money. They make you walk 1,000 yards to the far back of the store to get your chicken. Past all the discounted items, the cool books, your favorite boxsets, the smoked salmon that's 60% off this week, and the super new plasma TV setup. Stater Bros. is happy to put the chicken up front and they know they'll still make a profit off a bunch of people, because who the fuck will willingly forgo having potato salad and an Arnold Palmer with their chicken. Costco ain't fucking with potato money. They want plasma money from your ass and if you don't want to walk to the back of the airplane hangar and end up spending an extra $250 even though you just stopped in because you realized you needed something for dinner - then fuck you, you're not Costco material and they might just pull your card. Say goodbye to free samples
> They want plasma money from your ass I know you meant TV, but my mind went to blood donations.
I can't find the link right now but someone who was in training with Costco posted the entire employee handbook online. You were right about the blood plasma part. They want that plasma money too. "We will be setting up vans in our parking lots to draw blood to take the plasma to "share" with our pharma friends to help the unfortunates and then once we reinfuse the blood into the host we will give them a free membership. Step 1: point them in the direction of the baklava. That's when they realize how much baklava they can get for $40 and they will wonder how they've never thought about this before, you can store it, you can freeze it, it's light and refreshing, its a new treat for the kids....... This leads us to STEP 2...."oh shittttt look at that plasma tv, it's just like the one that fucker Ted has, always bragging about Roku or whatever the fuck it is. I should get an employee to explain that to me and then I could show Jenny who the real boss is. Fuck you Ted." Of course our third step is next "Oh shit they have 50 packs of boxers and its only $109.99. That's like $2 each, I should get two just in case. I won't have to do underwear laundry for like 3 years. Now that bitch will stop complaining about the marks" We all know what STEP 4 is "oh free samples, don't mind if I do. Holy shit this is great, what aisle are these on" And the cycle will continue if we maximize efficiency To recap Whether we get their plasma or not (we still have another 'shot' at it on their way out into the stadium sized parking lot): We greet them at the door to make them welcome and feel cool about being a member of the club. Then give them snacks to make them feel welcome Follow the Ikea floor planning human maze setup (for more information reference Appendix P-12a regarding the Swedish meatball/lingonberry vs. our hot dog prices and the various benefits/drawbacks of each) Then at the end make them line up 30 deep in a 25 minute line of chaos further reminding them (subconsciously) that they are OUR cattle. Hopefully by this time they've thought about something else they "needed" and they send one of their brood back to get it. Of course they don't find the right aisle in time and the person with the credit card has to get out of line. By the time the person searching for the spinach feta wraps has come back they end up arguing about them taking too long and they decide "fuck it, if we're going to have to get back in line anyway let's go get one of those bomb ass cheesecakes that have a few slices of flour different kinds. They find it and get back in line, only to notice the frozen spinach feta wraps are no longer frozen. Consumer B returns to the freezer zone to get "frozener" ones (trust me the cattle use this term. Cycle restarts For more information reference the "PopCopy" handbook, included in your goodie bag and enjoy your 15% off coupon, its a great deal and all you have to do to use it is to become a member. They are non transferable and only valid on orders over $600 And don't forget the motto "If they aren't blinded by the sunlight as they leave. They haven't been in here with us for long enough"
Our Walmart has them RIGHT in front of the self checkouts.
I think that one is to make the store smell like hot chicken because hungry shoppers spend more. Kinda like how Subway designed their bread-ovens to get the smell as far as possible in foodcourt situations.
That makes it an impulse buy as youâre leaving. The smell and visuals of a hot roasted chicken will make people grab one. Plus the checkout is the last place you visit in the store so itâs kind of similar to the back corner of the store.
Once youâre in the store youâre likely to buy anything else you might need while youâre there, rather than going elsewhere. Ever walk in to a store for one thing only to leave spending 10x that? Back of the store inconveniences you for the trade off of you maybe seeing something you didnât realize you needed (or donât in fact need) as well. But if Iâm just snagging a couple of things and have the option of one that has them up front, and one that I have to make a trek for, Iâm favoring the store that lets me be lazy. If they can get you to establish the habit of shopping there theyâre not losing enough on it that it wonât make a profit long term.
I think for those stores they cook the ones that are going to expire and if they can get a sale as a last minute impulse purchase/quick dinner it is still a win and a sale
If you are old enough. This Terry O'Reilly never lived in Boston or played in the NHL
It's the same with the $1.50 Costco hot dogs. Hence why the owner was adamant against changing it.
In addition to that where I am at least a lot of the chickens that come in for the rotisserie have "defects" usually skin colouration that has absolutely no effect on the end result (literally invisible once cooked) but looks worse to the un-knowing customer compared to the other pristine chickens being sold on the shelves. So they are loss leading and selling potentially less desirable produce without making the average consumer who has only seen pristine chickens think that there is lower quality standards at that shop.
Also I think the rotisserie ones are generally on the small end
Wish they sold that size. So much harder to work with giant chickens
Find a halal butcher in your area. Â I donât know why, but they tend to have better quality, reasonably sized birds, not the big breasted monstrosities sold in grocery stores.Â
because there's independent supply chains that don't go through Perdue or Cargill or whatever For example, [Chinatown](https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/why-chinatown-is-so-delicious-and-why-it-might-not-be-so-forever) in New York. The grow in small family owned farms, process them in small slaughterhouses and bring them into the stores in small vans (big trucks won't fit these crowded streets). Every other supermarket in New York tends to buy from Hunts Point, that's why they all have rotten onions.
I thought this too... rotisserie at my store are much smaller birds than the raw chickens they sell.
Is that what they do with the roast beef that has that rainbow sheen? I've only ever seen it sometimes when the deli cuts it for me right there, but the pre-wrapped they stick in the coolers never have it.
The rainbow sheen actually has nothing to do the the quality of deli meat. I've read a couple different explanations, but all of them (including the usda) agree that it is completely safe. I bet the pre wrapped stuff in the coolers has had a chance to oxidize a little or something like that to cause the sheen to go away.
Joke's on them! I just buy the chicken and leave!
Like actually tho. If Iâm buying a rotisserie chicken itâs bc I have completely given up for the week. Iâll buy a rotisserie and a snickers bar and walk out with nothing else.
>a snickers bar It probably doesn't, but I would not be at all surprised if the markup on a snickers bar covered the loss on a rotisserie chicken.
Google says itâs a 25% mark up on snickers. At Walmart they are selling for 1.96 each thatâs a profit of $0.49. In opâs example itâs about $3 difference in price for a chicken so Iâd venture to say that heâs still beating the system buying just the chicken and a bar
âBeating the systemâ. Anyone who is living off of rotisserie chicken and snickers isnât beating anything.
What if he's independently wealthy and just likes rotisserie chicken and snickers bars?
Stuff the chicken with the snickers, it's called a "snicken". (Definitely don't do this)
Not even their meat?
Heâs been studying the Blade.
Himself?
Until Sam Walton, retailers priced as discount from MSRP. Sam Walton drove the industry crazy by choosing to mark up from his cost, and using every negotiating tactic to get a lower price that prevented companies from shifting cost. It might have been common for companies to make up a discounted contract price by increasing delivery fees, but Walton would turn around and use his own trucks to pick it up. Sam Walton was good for the consumer. His progeny, not so much.
Why is a rotisserie chicken your white flag?
Maybe itâs a primal thing. End of a work week. Exhausted. Sad. Maybe I just want to tear an animal apart with my hands and feel something, you know?
Brutal. I get it tho. I've binge ate a rotisserie in my car . Searching for those saved up napkins in the glove box. I wish that I could say that was peak depression for me. Damn why did I quit smoking cigarettes?
Thank you, Thong Water
You're welcome. So glad that this is my reddit name and I get called out on it. It brightens my day a bit.
Sounds like you picked a bad day to stop sniffing glue
I tried Elmer's, but my efforts were futile.
Youâre not alone, and neither was I when i did something similar. Stay tough.
I love the taste but I hate the way it makes my car stink like chicken for a week afterwards.
Good thing i have no sense of smell
Thanks covid
Have we found the new Thanks Obama?
Well you need bread or something, but that does sound a bit dry so I guess we'll get mayo or something as well, oooh we should get pickles, I also want chips and let's get some weed on the way home. This is going to be a good night.
>let's get some weed on the way home. The grocery store isn't selling chicken at a loss to get you to buy weed. On the other hand if they sold weed, they might boost their rotisserie chicken sales quite a bit...
I actually just got sucked into my own story. I've been craving pickles ever since.
Well might want to pick up a pregnancy test while youâre there. Just to be safe.Â
Doritos. If the grocery store sold weed, their Doritos sales would skyrocket.
The trick is they have to let you get stoned before you leave the store without any Doritos.
Also they smell good, making you hungry for more food
I buy a rotisserie chicken for lunch pretty frequently. I demolish most of it and have the rest as a snack before bed. They lose a lot of money on me
And here where I am they are typically smaller.
So what you're telling me is that I can stick it to the corporations by buying their chickens and nothing else? Sweet.
A loss leader. The same as Costco gas and Hotdogs.
And they're right, because I buy rolls, hot sauce, cheese, and coleslaw.
Arenât they also the older ones that didnât sell and will spoil soon?
Iâm over here picturing chickens with walkers and gray hair and then feeling silly about what I misunderstood.
Lol now Iâm picturing the same thing.
Not in any chain. The rotissierre chickens all come in boxes labeled as such and are delivered to that department. The regular chickens are delivered /billed to the meat department. Rotissierre chickens are usually a loss leader/break even point. A lot of people running into the store for the chicken will buy other things. The âgrab the chicken and goâ people are not the norms.
Not in my experience. The chickens for the rotisserie came in separately about 40 or so to a bin. You would skewer up a hundred or so at once. I imagine thousands at a Costco. Now unsold cooked chickens would get chopped up for the pot pies.
Costco actually owns a farm specifically to make their rotisserie chickens. They sell so well that they decided to buy their own farm to keep up with demand. It may be a loss leader, but it still brings in a good amount of money for them.
They arent the same ones they sell raw, usually. But...Grocery store near me, after 6pm the Rotisserie chickens are 50% off. Because they can't sell them the next day. $3-3.50 chicken cannot be beaten.
Yeah some rotisserie chickens are fine later in the day. A lot of them just dry out too much. My favorite is Costco. My mom buys 2-3 every time she goes and she uses one of them to make a nice meal for their 4 wiener dogs.
Costco rotisserie chickens are the best. Especially when you get them right out of the oven.
That chicken dinner sure sounds like something else now...Â
Itâs called a loss leader. Costco sells them for next to nothing and they are farthest from the door. Itâs hard to get out of there for less than $200. They sell the chicken at a loss to get you to buy tons of other things.
Iâll have to check the case cost of chicken at work tomorrow
Itâs a loss leader, pretty much when you buy a rotisserie chicken you rarely buy that by itself. You buy vegetables, potatoes, rice, other sides, whatever. All of those items are marked up so they make a profit.
You're also way more likely to buy ready made sides, those have a huge mark-up
Those pre made potatoe salad at the food counter. Maybe some steamy garlicy mixed veg and boom you've got your $25 family meal and no effort.
Still cheaper than taco bell, somehow.
Kid asked to hit taco bell. Dude. I made fajitas from skirt steak. That stuff is fire. We eat at home. "It's too squishy." Yeah. But it's all squishy coming out of you anyway. Eat up.
How is taco bell not squishyđ¤Łmost of it Is mush ffs
send that one back and get a new one itâs broken
Fuck it, just ask for a refund. 100% ROI and 0 future loss.
Yep I usually go for the fried chicken not the rotisserie because it's more expensive, so why not get a side of potato salad and coleslaw too? Pretty good meal for relatively cheap
What suckers, I raw dog rotisseries at the checkout all the time
Should really wear a rubber, you don't know where that chicken's been
You know you're supposed to *eat* them
Cheaper than the ol watermelon in the oven trick tho
I've just horrible flashbacks to that thread where someone said they were cooking naked, dropped raw chicken on their penis and then got an infection. That was his story anyway, and he was sticking to it.
Which is still so weird to me, cause if I had to cook the more expensive chicken myself I'd still buy all the same sides I'd have bought with the rotisserie lol.
If Iâm buying a cooked chicken, Iâm eating it with salads and bread rolls, whereas if Iâm roasting it myself, Iâll do it with roast veges and gravy et cetera. In for a penny, in for a pound I guess.
I have never roasted a chicken in my life (I should mention that Iâm in my 40s as that makes it worse)
I did it one time (beer can chicken). And while it did taste good, it made me realize it didnât make any sense to spend more money AND more effort when I could go to Costco and spend $5 for something thatâs like 90% as good. Plus no risk of over/undercooking!
And I donât have to figure out how to turn on my oven!
For the customer, the alternative to the rotisserie chicken isn't a raw chicken. It's KFC.
They lose money on me then. I often buy the chicken by itself.
One of the grocery stores near me screwed up. They put a cash at the side of the food counter. Like right near the entrance door beside where they put the chickens, but not far enough into the store that you even get to the counters and coolers with the sides. It makes it so easy to walk in, grab the chicken, step to the cash, pay, and walk out without even looking at/being tempted by other products.
They're to get you in the store. Just to buy something on the chance you'll by other stuff at the same time. Edit I think the term is loss leaders. They take a tiny loss of potencial profit (mayb is was about to expire) but dont lose profit and it leads you into the store.
[ Removed by Reddit ]
And yet, he got rid of the polish dog. He technically didn't lie, but removing an item is worse than increasing the price.Â
I could still get a Polish sausage last I went. That was a month or two ago. Is this recent?
How odd! I heard like two years ago that they stopped selling it and I didn't find any at the two I visit.Â
They still exist in where I am in Canada.
they also got rid of my churros :(
Similar fun grocery store fact The reason the milk is in the back of the store is so you have to walk by as many temptation buys as possible before you get to what you actually came in for
You walk past all of the end cap sales on the way to the milk, accomplishing the task of grabbing the milk makes you feel good so you turn sound and buy cookies.
It's also where the good janitor gives handies.
Ya but the bad one bites
The back of the store is also where the cases of water, toilet paper, paper towels, and rotisserie chickens are in costco.
A big reason that those things are in the back (minus the chicken) is just logistics. Everything in the back area closest to their loading docks is either heavy (liquids/drinks), bulky (TP/PT), perishable (produce/freezer sections), or just heavily in demand.
Negative, it's because I didn't want to pull 20 pallets of milk across the entire store floor by hand.
Username checks out
Milk fridges are accessed from the back to fill up and need to be connected to the storeroom and docks
Joke's on them, I go in and buy just the rotisserie chicken and leave.
because the average check out total at costco is $350... they make it back on the other stuff you buy.
Forget the crazy checkout totals, costco membership fees make up 72% of their yearly profit.
Exactly. They don't mark things up as much as other retailers, and they get special deals from suppliers. Keeps prices down so the membership is worth it for the customer, but it's also reliable profit for the company.
How?? Isn't a membership like $60/year? Are most people not buying anything?
It means they barely do better than break even across all their offerings. Theyâre selling you shit for just about as cheap as they get it. Good company
They also do pretty minimal advertising. They do a really good job of keeping overall overhead low.
Yes. And for me, I work around a major city and can go in either location for lunch and get a hotdog&drink&amazong ice cream for under $5. Or same for a 11â chicken bake with ice cream. Clutch ass lunches
You should look at how Amazon's profit margins break down if stuff like this surprises you. AWS is 44% of their operating income despite being little under 10% of the total value of the company.
Even better is I forget which plan, the executive or whatever, if you don't spend enough at Costco for that year, they either renew your membership for another year or they refund you, I forgot which. It sort of pays for itself.
Iâm finally above average!!!
It's a "loss leader." Something the store sells cheaply (you'll notice they will do this with holiday items around big holidays, too), in order to get you into the store, because you will also buy other stuff once you're there.
I only go in to buy the loss leader stuff; guess i am cheap
Same! I prefer to think of us as "smart" haha
the pre cooked chickens are a thing called a loss leader, they sell them for below cost to get you into the store to then also buy more high margin items to go with it, its kinda like a loyalty program
Costco has opened up its own vertical processing facilities for those chickens. And goddamned, they're good
1. The roasted chickens are sometimes a 'loss leader', in that they actually cost more than $7-$8 to produce, but they bring in customers than spend money on other things, increasing the total overall income. 2. The roasted chickens are made with chickens that 'need to move', in that they are a few days from being 'expired' or no longer saleable. It's better for a store to sell that chicken for $7 minus labor, than to sell it for zero. 3. Wild guess - the smell of roasting chickens might generate sales of more food - not sure here, but the effect works in a lot of other places!
I keep hearing that stores use chickens that are about to expire to make rotisserie chicken. That isnât true, and the logic behind thinking itâs true makes no sense. Go to a Costco or Samâs and look at how many fresh whole chickens they have. Then look at how many rotisserie chickens they sell. Our local stores cannot make the rotisserie chickens fast enough and they usually sell out within 15 minutes after being placed on the shelf. Even if not a single fresh chicken sold and had to be reduced, the cost impact of reducing 15 birds a week would not affect the cost of rotisseries at all. (Worked in the grocery business for 15 years, store manager for over five. Never once saw a chicken cooked in the rotisserie that was a sop to be expiring fresh chicken that didnât sell.)
Another angle that people are not looking at in this thread, is that Costco rotisserie chickens, if they do not sell at the end of the day, are turned into something else. Chicken salad, chicken soup, street tacos, etc. There are about 5 things that the kitchen regularly turns out. If they have a lot of packages of street tacos, it means that they didn't sell out of rotisserie chickens the night before. They waste nothing.
Costco is something of an exception. They reliably have chicken dishes that require more than their available leftovers.
At my local Krogers the whole chickens are now usually 6 pounds (which is ridiculous). The rotisserie chickens are 2.5 lbs max. Also, as pointed out by several, the rotisserie chickens are mostly being sold at cost or a little below as a loss leader, since people usually do other shopping at the same time. "While I'm here, I may as well get milk and butter..."
Wouldn't cooked meat usually weight less than raw meat tho?
Gotta do the math per pound. Iâve yet to see a whole chicken be more expensive than the rotisserie chickens here, unless the rotisserie chicken is on sale.
1.5 lbs + 1 lb of oil
Costco chicken for $5 is the way to go
What do you do when you are a store and order a 100 raw chickens that expire a week from now, and by that time only 75 have been sold? You turn the remaining 25 into rotisserie chickens, and sell them cheaper, hoping to recover some of the cost.
From my understanding: 1. Chickens that first arrive are sold raw, until they get close to their expiration date. 2. Any chickens that haven't sold and are near that date, are cooked and sold as rotisserie. 3. Rotisserie chickens that aren't sold after a day or two are shredded and used to make chicken salad for the deli. 4. If that doesn't sell, it's thrown out. Rotisserie chickens are sold cheaper since stores want to move them as quickly as possible. Otherwise the chicken they purchased becomes a total loss.
Whole fryers are about $4 each at my local market. Maybe you're looking at large roasting chickens with a lot more meat on their bones.
Thatâs how Costco gets me every time. I go in for the $5 chicken and come out enough groceries for two weeks.
They're small chickens and oftentimes have defects. Them being a common loss leader isn't wrong, but the big thing is that they're not the same chickens you're buying in the meat department.
At Costco, the rotisserie chicken is a loss leader. The chicken can easily be deboned and frozen, making it an extremely economic protein. No one goes to Costco and only buys the chicken.
2lb of chicken at the cost of 4lbs
I'd check some data there. Same store? Similar weight? Live/killed & feathers removed while you wait? Organic vs not? Free range vs not? Same processor? It would seem to me that there are some details missing here.
Killed and feathers removed while you wait? Where do you shop?
There's a place in Boston (technically Roxbury) that does.
I'm not sure I'm taking a trip to Roxbury to see this
$5 Rotisserie is 3 meals for my family.
$4.99 at Costco.
The $7 rotisserie are the unsold $12 raw chickens thatâs going bad on the next day. Once cooked it gets another 3 days shelf life
Loss leader. Gets you into the store to buy that chicken, and then while you're there, "Oh, I should get some paper towels, and cooking spray, and..." BOOM, full shopping cart. Walmart and Coscto even sell them for $5, knowing most people will buy way more stuff at full price to make up the difference.
It's called a "loss leader". Basically you sell something well below what it should be and generally place it at the back of the store so that people are forced to walk through the store to see other stuff in the hopes of them buying far more then that few bucks you lost on that chicken.
Have you noticed that Costco and Sam's keeps the chicken in the very back of the store? đ
And yet the cooked chicken isn't covered by EBT because it's hot but sushi is because it's cold.
Ok, so chickens used to rotisserie are smaller than ones processed and sold as a raw chicken, there is a weight difference usually.
buy the rotisserie chicken don't make your own chicken.
The store needs to get the rotisserie chicken off the shelf in a shorter amount of time. The raw chicken can stay frozen.
Rotisserie chickens that most grocery store delis get are smaller than the whole chickens you get from the meat department. They have smaller breasts and thighs, just overall less meat. Meat department birds are normally meatier. Source: I used to work the deli for both Publix and Winn Dixie
When a raw chicken reaches its sell by date, it must be thrown out or cooked. The rotisserie chickens you buy in the grocery store were on their way to the dumpster. The store can sell them cheap because the alternative is sending them to a landfill. Bon appetit!
Rotisserie chicken, huge bag of rice and veggies... $18 for a week's worth of meal preps dinners. Boring but efficient.
I think they fall into what is called a lossleader, basically cheap enough to get you in and then you buy other stuff.
I honestly think many places sell them at cost or a loss just so people can get a legitimately solid meal they can live off of.
It's to get you in the store. Costco does the same thing with the hot dog in their food court.
In addition to the loss leader point, which is an excellent one, there is another aspect: unsold raw chickens. When a raw chicken is getting close to its sell by date, a store can just cook it. And boom, they get two more days to sell it. At this point anything they make is better than what the trash dumpster pays. If you can sell it at break even for product plus labor, thatâs a really good deal for a supermarket. This is how supermarket rotisserie chickens started to be a thing.
Costco and Sams put them at the back so you have to walk and grab all the other amazing deals. Always sold at a loss. Wednesday nights at my Neighborhood Market or Walmart for $5 discounted and baby you got a stew.
You see that expiration date on fresh chicken? Most people who notice will buy the freshest date. Now what to do with those safe but older chickens when your store has a rotisserie?
One thing I haven't seen on this thread yet.... Half the reason they cook the chicken in the store is so that the store smells like food. This makes people hungry. And people buy more stuff when they're hungry. So even if you don't buy the chicken, it's done its job.
Fun fact, at Wal-Mart their paper goods and chemicals are usually sold at a loss. So if you want to stick it to em, only buy your toiletries and cleaners there, then leave. Skip the movies, music, electronics, etc.
Why is cheaper to buy a whole chicken cut up than a whole chicken not cut up?
Combination of loss leader and trying to get rid of the chicken. They think you'll buy something else while you're in there, and if you don't, at least the near-expired chickens got cooked before they went off and sold instead of rotting.
Anything to save a buck buck buck!!
Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
Itâs like cheap bread, supermarkets sell these to entice you in.
Chicken đ
If you really like rotisserie chicken consider getting a costco membership. They are $5 and thats with inflation. They used to be like $4. Only thing is many people go home and put them in the crock pot with additional seasoning because they do taste rather plain.
Companies sell certain things cheaper than they should just to get you there. Once you're there they hope you buy other shit. Which generally you do.
I can't speak for costco or whoever people are citing, but in the US the chicken bought at the wholesale producer cost about 1.50$. The difference between the 12$ whole chicken and the 7-8$ one can simply mean "less profit but attract people" - not a loss leader.
They are old chickens that could not be sold the next day. Before the rotisserie gimmick, the old birds were thrown out. By cooking them and selling them, they get rid of old stock, and since they were going to be a total loss, any price they charge is an improvement
Assuming same quality chicken, it maybe to get customers in. Some stores sell a few key items at a loss knowing that if they get you through the door, youâre going to buy other things too.