🐔Rotisserie chicken: What goes around comes around

The idea of roasting meat slowly over a heat source is prehistoric, and cultures all over the world have figured out fabulous ways to do it with chickens. But the modern-day rotisserie renaissance—cheap birds in take-home containers at supermarkets and big-box stores—can be [traced back]( to the early ‘90s, when Boston Market (then Boston Chicken) started selling them at drive-thrus. The concept was an instant hit. From grocery store chains to infomercial kings, companies moved quickly to capitalize on the hot trend. In fact, so many rushed into the space in the late ‘90s, industry leaders went bankrupt and “bird” became a [byword for an overcooked IPO](. But, the dish survived, and in 2017, Americans purchased no fewer than 625 million rotisserie chickens in supermarkets. Megastore Costco, which markets a cult favorite, sells [60 million]( annually. What is it about rotisserie chicken that keeps it in the rotation? Let’s dig in. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Sponsored by [Quartz Obsession] Rotisserie chicken November 01, 2018 Turn, turn, turn --------------------------------------------------------------- The idea of roasting meat slowly over a heat source is prehistoric, and cultures all over the world have figured out fabulous ways to do it with chickens. But the modern-day rotisserie renaissance—cheap birds in take-home containers at supermarkets and big-box stores—can be [traced back]( to the early ‘90s, when Boston Market (then Boston Chicken) started selling them at drive-thrus. The concept was an instant hit. From grocery store chains to infomercial kings, companies moved quickly to capitalize on the hot trend. In fact, so many rushed into the space in the late ‘90s, industry leaders went bankrupt and “bird” became a [byword for an overcooked IPO](. But, the dish survived, and in 2017, Americans purchased no fewer than 625 million rotisserie chickens in supermarkets. Megastore Costco, which markets a cult favorite, sells [60 million]( annually. What is it about rotisserie chicken that keeps it in the rotation? Let’s dig in. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Reuters By the digits [4:]( Hours a rotisserie chicken can spend on the shelf before drying out [29%:]( Decrease in price of Whole Foods’ rotisserie chicken after Amazon took over in 2017 [414:]( Size in acres of Costco’s new rotisserie chicken facility in Fremont, Nebraska [$0.15:]( Savings per pound from buying Costco rotisserie chicken versus cooking a chicken at home [460:]( Milligrams of sodium in a Costco chicken, thanks to saline-flavor injections [11,415:]( Followers of the Costco Rotisserie Chicken Facebook page Million-Dollar Question Why are rotisserie chickens so cheap? --------------------------------------------------------------- Ranging from $4.99–$7.99 for a whole bird, rotisserie chickens are famously budget friendly. Time-strapped consumers in need of a quick meal can potentially spend less on a whole, cooked chicken than they would spend on a combo meal from a fast food chain. When you consider that the average price for a single chicken breast is [$3.19 per pound]( how are grocery stores and wholesalers making money by selling the whole shebang—prepared—for just a couple of dollars more? The answer: They’re not. Rotisserie chickens are usually considered loss leaders, an item that the store purposely loses money on. Offering a popular item at a shockingly low price brings customers into the store, where they buy complementary products and impulse items. “If they get a chicken, a salad, and maybe they pick up a bottle of wine—now we’re really talking,” Don Fitzgerald, vice president of merchandising at Mariano’s, a Kroger-owned grocery chain in Chicago, [told]( the Wall Street Journal. How much do stores actually lose by pricing their poultry so low? In 2015, Costco’s chief financial officer, Richard Galanti, [estimated]( that the company “eats” $30 to $40 million annually by refusing to raise prices by just $1. Sponsored by AT&T Business Future of Business Intelligence --------------------------------------------------------------- Businesses dictate how well we live. We need them to make informed decisions, so that they can best serve us. That’s why business intelligence—the practice of drawing insights from data to inform strategy—can have a direct effect on our lives. The more intelligent our businesses are, the better our lives are.[Find out more on qz.com]( Quotable Jerry: Look at the size of that neon light. Kramer: [Kenny] Rogers can’t sell chicken around here, we got chicken places on every block. Jerry: He is the gambler. —[Seinfeld, “The Chicken Roaster,” Season 8, Episode 8]( brief history The rotisserie bubble --------------------------------------------------------------- [1985:]( Boston Chicken, now Boston Market, is founded in Newtonville, Massachusetts [1991:]( Country singer Kenny Rogers and former KFC owner John Y. Brown Jr. open Kenny Rogers Roasters [1993:]( Boston Market goes public at $20 a share [1994:]( Costco and Kroger offer rotisserie chicken [1996:]( Boston Market’s shares hit $46 [1997:]( Shares of Boston Market fall 82% over the year [1998:]( Boston Market and Kenny Rogers Roasters go bankrupt [2000:]( McDonald’s buys Boston Market for $174 million [2008:]( Malaysian company Berjaya Roasters buys Kenny Rogers Roasters for $4 million [2011:]( Berjaya reports $100 million in earnings over 140 KRR locations in Asia [2017:]( Boston Market is rumored to be for sale for $400 million AP Photo/Paul Sakuma Counting their chickens Costco’s poultry push --------------------------------------------------------------- Costco is so serious about maintaining that rock-bottom $4.99 price on its rotisserie chickens that it’s investing [$275 million]( to build a dedicated facility in Fremont, Nebraska. The plant will employ 800 people and process 2 million chickens every week. To supply the staggering number of birds, Costco is contracting with 100-125 area farmers, many of whom will switch from grain to poultry to accommodate the wholesale giant. Despite the massive scale, the Nebraska plant is expected to fulfill just 40% of Costco’s rotisserie chicken needs—which would feed “roughly… the western half of the United States, Alaska and Hawaii,” [according to a spokeswoman]( for the Costco-owned company that’s managing the build. The facility should be up and running by September 2019. Fun fact! In 2011, Canadian chain restaurant Swiss Chalet launched a 24-hour rotisserie chicken channel for customers in Ontario. The [13-week]( broadcast consisted entirely of [a loop]( featuring 12 chickens rotating on a rotisserie. Giphy Pop quiz Roasting jacks or turnspits, 16th-century versions of the rotisserie, were powered by what unusual source? A pack of ratsPrison inmatesEnergetic toddlersSmall dogs Correct. “Kitchen dogs” or “vernepator curs” were specially bred for the dubious honor of running in a hamster wheel-like contraption to spin the spit. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. AP Photo/Elaine Thompson Pro Tip How to choose your chicken wisely --------------------------------------------------------------- When you’re choosing a chicken from the warming case, you no doubt know to check the sticker for the time it was removed from the rotisserie. But [according to Bon Appétit]( there are a few other ways to ensure you get the best chicken of the bunch: - Heavy is good. A weightier chicken indicates that it still contains plenty of juices. - Pick the plump one. Pruney, shriveled chicken = dry. Look for evenly browned skin that’s still taut. - Seeing is believing. If the store hasn’t placed the cooked birds near the rotisserie so that you can see them being freshly cooked, be sure to ask how often they rotate the stock. This one weird trick! Spit roasting—without the spit --------------------------------------------------------------- As Karen Klein [shows]( at Priceonomics, at most places (Costco notably excepted) those cheap rotisserie chickens are still a bit more expensive than cooking at home. If you want a similar taste from your oven, Epicurious [shows how to do it]( using a rack and pan. Watch this! This RonCo Showtime Rotisserie infomercial is sure to remind you exactly how much nonsense TV you watched during the ‘90s and early 2000s. Act now and you’ll also get Ron’s newest invention, the RonCo “Solid Flavor Injector”! KFC Kentucky fried fool's gold --------------------------------------------------------------- No one was immune to the charms of rotisserie chicken when it took off in the 1990s—not even those who built their fortunes on the fried alternative. In 1993, KFC launched “[The Colonel’s Rotisserie Gold]( which one executive [described]( as, “a little like M.C. Hammer becoming an opera singer. We may be cooking it differently, but we’ve got 54 years of making the world’s favorite chicken.” Solid comparison. The $100-million investment didn’t exactly pay off—by 1996, the “Rotisserie Gold” line had [been replaced]( by another non-fried item dubbed “Tender Roast.” Giphy Poll How often do you pick up a precooked rotisserie chicken? [Click here to vote]( On the reg.Occasionally for a quick dinner.I had no idea this was even a thing. 💬let's talk! 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