Even if you’ve never set foot in a Costco store, you’re likely familiar with the chain’s famous rotisserie chicken. It's been featured in the TV sitcom Broad City, thousands of TikTok videos, and made headlines in 2023 when celebrity chef David Chang called it “inedible and disgusting,” drawing ire from Costco shoppers across the globe.
Perhaps the most famous fact about Costco’s crown jewel is that it has cost only $4.99 for well over a decade, defying rising food costs. Company insiders say they have no intention of raising the price anytime soon, despite losing money on the popular Costco product. Keep reading for more facts about what might just be the world’s most famous rotisserie chicken.
11 Surprising Things You Can Get at Costco
The Price Isn't Changing
Costco’s rotisserie chickens have been priced at $4.99 since 2009, when everyone was rocking skinny scarves and listening to Miley Cyrus belt out “Party in the U.S.A.” According to Costco’s former chief financial officer (now-retired), Richard Galanti, there are no plans to raise the price by even one dollar.
“I can only tell you what history has shown us: When others were raising their chicken prices from $4.99 to $5.99, we were willing to eat, if you will, $30 to $40 million a year in gross margin by keeping it at $4.99,” Galanti told The Seattle Times in 2015. “That’s what we do for a living.”
It's the Best-Priced Rotisserie Chicken Around
Costco’s rotisserie chickens are a great deal: At roughly 3 pounds for $4.99, you’re looking at $1.66 per pound, which is less than buying a whole fresh chicken at Costco. Similar products from Whole Foods at $8.99 per bird (varies per location) and Safeway at $4.80 per pound run significantly more than a Costco bird.
Costco's philosophy is that it’s not the type of store that attracts the same shoppers every week. Nevertheless, with reasonably priced items like its rotisserie chicken, it's counting on customers returning more frequently.
Costco Raises Its Own Chickens
To cut costs, Costco opened its own 400,000-square-foot poultry processing plant in Nebraska in 2019. The plant enables the company to manage the chickens from farm to production and ensures that the birds are grown to the correct size, typically around 3 pounds.
The plant has also given Costco a few headaches, as the company was accused of subjecting chickens to inhumane conditions. Their treatment of livestock resulted in a lawsuit brought by two of Costco's own shareholders. Additionally, Costco was forced to euthanize about 500,000 birds at the Nebraska plant in 2022 following an avian influenza outbreak.
Chickens Are Positioned in a Strategic Location
If you’ve ever run into Costco just to grab a chicken, you likely trekked to the back of the store, passing everything from massive flatscreen TVs to a 24-pack of toilet paper along the way. That’s by design, as Costco execs are betting that, during your trip to the back of the store, you’ll pick up a few things in addition to an easy, inexpensive meal.
They Only Stay on the Shelf for 2 Hours
At every Costco location, rotisserie chickens are limited to just 2 hours on the shelf, according to David and Susan Schwartz, authors of"The Joy of Costco: A Treasure Hunt from A to Z,"who spent 7 years researching the retail giant.
That's Costco's window for optimal taste and flavor. After 2 hours, employees remove expired birds from the shelf and repurpose the meat in other dishes, such as soups and salads. For the freshest possible birds, listen for the ring of a bell. That's the way employees signal that a new batch of rotisserie chickens are ready to go.
Ways to Use a Costco Chicken
It'd be a shame to pass up on a great deal like Costco's rotisserie chicken just because you're bored with the same meal every week. Luckily, you can transform your Costco (or any other brand of) rotisserie chicken into dozens of different dishes. From tacos to soup to sandwiches, there’s no shortage of meals you can make with rotisserie chicken.
Bags Are Replacing Clamshells
Despite Costco's reticence about making any changes to one of its most popular attractions, execs announced in March 2024 that they're swapping out the iconic hard-plastic clamshell containers with plastic bags at U.S. locations. Besides being more environmentally friendly (by using less plastic), the bags take up less space in your haul and are easier to carry.
Rotisserie chickens have been sold in bags for several years in Canada, where—by the way—Costco rotisserie chickens originated. Montreal warehouse managers Louis Santillo and Pierre Riel are credited with coming up with the idea after noting rotisserie chickens available in competitors' stores.
Rotisserie Chicken Sales Aren’t Slowing Down
Costco sells millions of rotisserie chickens to its customers year after year. Costco execs confirmed during the company’s 2023 annual shareholders meeting that it sold a whopping 137 million rotisserie chickens in 2023, about 20 million more than the prior year. No matter how you slice it, that’s a lot of chickens.
14 Costco Membership Benefits You May Not Know About
