Rotisserie chicken is the chicken that was about to go bad. It's loss prevention. A cheap Rotisserie chicken is more profitable than throwing an old chicken away.
this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2025
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It's also a way to bring you into the store, particularly Costco and Sam's Club. If they can get you in the door, they can entice you with impulse purchases. For me, it's a good way to have a cheap, somewhat healthy meal when we don't have much time, all while picking up some groceries.
you don't just eat half of it in the car on the drive home?
I've eaten a pizza on the way home, and it was glorious. I should try a chicken.
For science.
THIS, this right here is your answer. Old chickens, small chickens, that's all dumb. It's simply a loss leader to get you into the store.
Ever see the crowd waiting for the chickens to come out of the ovens? They know how popular these things are. They could easily set it up near the entrance, but they don't. They make you walk all the way to the back of the store to get it, and dare you not to buy something else along the way.
It's as simple as that.
It isn't a chicken that's about to go bad, chickens that are for the rotisserie are smaller than the whole chickens that they sell raw. You pay less because it is a smaller chicken that has been cooked. The raw whole chicken is usually a higher weight than the rotisserie was before it was cooked.
The smaller chicken is chosen to be cooked because people wouldn't buy those smaller chickens raw since the are so small so they are a loss leader to get you in the store.
Aren't they just smaller because they have been roasted? I assumed they are the same chickens but the water has been evaporated.
Some stores will sell them, they are usually sold as roaster chickens. They fit nicely in an air fryer but a lot of store that are getting rid of their actual butchers get everything in pre packaged. The rotisserie chicken come in a bulk box not packaged for individual sale.
It has been a few years since I worked in a supermarket/ food logistics but generally things don't change much.
No, it isn't, that's ridiculous, and people are up voting it. Use your Critical Thinking Skills, citizens!
They may just be confused about what they heard, or they heard that from someone confused.
Something I heard, which sounds more plausible, is: rotisserie chickens that have been sitting around a bit (not even close to going bad, just not very hot and fresh anymore) are used to make the things they sell with rotisserie chicken in them, like those trays of chicken and broccoli Alfredo. (I can eat an embarrassing large portion of those "family size" trays.)
I could see how after being passed through a few people that turns into what they said.
When I was 15 I worked at a Red Rooster (Australian fast food chain)
Each night before knock off we would strip any of the whole roast chickens that didn't sell and turn them into rooster rolls and put them in the fridge for tomorrow
All rotisserie chickens have a Sell By TIME, and I understand that those that have expired and not sold do get used in other dishes. Lately they even had rotisserie chicken meat for sale, so you don't have to clean the bones yourself.
They sell pretty quickly in my local Publix, I don't think they have much to recycle.
But the idea that they take the chickens that are at their expiration date, and cook them and sell them, is silly.
I'm using my Critical Doublethinking Skills even like a good model citizen
While I'm at it, bang bang shrimp is similar. It's about to go bad or is of low quality, so put a really strong sauce on it and at least you can sell something vs. throw it out.
Stores treat rotisserie chickens as a loss leader to get you into the store. Once you select the chicken, you'll probably buy side dishes, dessert, and beverages, and pick up whatever else you need.
Costco/ Sam's/ BJs, keep them in the back of the store, just to make you walk through the entire store to pick it up. They dare you not to buy something else.
My local grocery store recently renovated and reorganized the whole store. They placed the rotisserie chickens right by the checkout, next to the impulse purchases rack.
Yeah, Publix has them fairly close to the front, too. It's the Big Box stores that do the back of the store thing. It isn't speculation, the companies have talked about it.
I have bought just a chicken at Costco.
Twice!
That's why I always buy a few rotisserie chicken while I am there.
it is an exothermic reaction, it releases money
It's basic thermonomics, you learn it at busineering school
Rotisserie chicken isn't the final form.
You can turn left over rotisserie chicken into chicken soup.
The chicken's fate isn't sealed until it is converted to poo.
Then boil the soup leftovers into stock and freeze it!
And you can turn poo into plants. And you can feed the plants to chickens.
ITS THE CIIRRRCLLLLLLEEE
leaves chicken on counter for a week
The chicken's fate isn't sealed until it is converted to poo.
There's still time for you, little one
I always figure they sell it at a loss on purpose to get you in through the door. Thinking you’ll come for the chicken and then buy something else
I never thought groceries needed loss leaders like that. We need to go to buy food, and food is required to survive as a human, after all.
yes, but they want you to go to THEIR store...not the competition.
there's always a loss leader
But they all got these chickens.
They have to; any that stop selling them or jack up the price will see a drop in sales as people switch to the other stores
Rotisserie Chickens are a weird kind of family staple for many Australian families.
One chicken, one tub of coleslaw or a bag of salad and a 6 pack of breadrolls and you can feed a family of 4. It doesnt cost as much as takeaway.
Don't forget the gravy if you can't get coleslaw.
So people don't realize that not only are the chickens, milk and other things loss leaders. But also they don't always earn direct profit from things like chips and soda, those are also ways to drive people in the door and the companies realized they could make convoluted merchandising deals.
Deals where shelf space is sold, circular ad space is bought, profits go to the soda or other distributor and stores get additional payouts based off hitting sales metrics. Outside merchandisers stocking the soda, because afterall it's their product and sales... All to get people to hopefully load up a cart, preferably with their in house brands.
Due to the cooking XP potential in the uncooked chicken
2007scape is leaking
can't read "what's up with that?" without hearing Kenan's voice
This is the only voice I hear "What's up with that?" In 😂
I always hear Viper's voice.
Confirming that it's either a loss leader or loss prevention. Depends on the store and management.
I dunno, ii figured it's mass produced due to the celery juice flavor (nitrite preservative) and is therefore benefiting from an economy of scale.
The box could be anything. It could even be a boat!
You know how much we've been wantin' one'a those. Then why don't we take the b... WE'LL TAKE THE BOX
Wish this was true here because raw chicken is incredibly cheap already. I would love some even cheaper chicken.
Big grocery knows you can do it better than them.
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