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calciphus t1_iwai17o wrote

I heard from a friend who works for a grocery store it's not actually a loss leader, it's loss prevention. When chicken is at the end of its sellable life you cook it and can sell it for several more days. Basically before that they were throwing away unsold chicken. It's less wasteful, people eat it, and the cost of production is negligible relative to paying to dispose of it.

Can't vouch for accuracy, but that's what I'd heard

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alwaysuseswrongyour t1_iwaj9cm wrote

Costco sells way too many rotisserie chickens and way to little whole chicken for this to be true. It also costs a lot to be using those massive ovens all day to cook them. There is simply zero way they are making money on that chicken.

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calciphus t1_iwakazv wrote

You make a very good point. I am suspicious of my friend's claims now.

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Hoodstompa t1_iwbn4dh wrote

Yeah that’s not the case for Costco whatsoever. We do harvest the chicken meat from cooked birds that don’t sell, but the chicken we get for rotisserie is ENTIRELY separate from what we offer to the member as raw product. We sell upwards of 300 a day, and I work at a fairly slow store. The vacuum sealed cooked packs come from our suppliers, and is never cooked or processed in house as well. That may be the case for other groceries, but not Costco.

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calciphus t1_iwcb8tr wrote

This is super informative, thanks for sharing!

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