W*****B
发帖数: 4796 | 1 It's only $4.99. But Costco's rotisserie chicken comes at a huge price
Updated 8:06 AM EDT October 11, 2019
At the back of Costco's stores, past the televisions, jewelry, jumbo-sized
ketchup jugs and tubs of mixed nuts, is one of the retailer's most prized
items: The rotisserie chicken that costs just $4.99.
Cheap Kirkland Signature rotisserie chickens aren't only a quick way for
families to get dinner on the table. For Costco, the chickens are a lure,
pulling customers into stores and getting them to browse the aisles, adding
sometimes hundreds of dollars worth of items to their shopping carts before
they pick up that bird.
The chickens have become almost a cult item. 91 million were sold last year,
double the number from a decade earlier. They have their own Facebook page
with nearly 13,000 followers.
So Costco is willing to go to extreme lengths to keep its chickens at $4.99.
For the past few years, it's been recruiting farmers for this moment: The
official opening of a sprawling, $450 million poultry complex of its very
own in Nebraska.
It's a highly unusual move for one of the world's largest retailers. Costco
will control the production process from farm to store, making key decisions
down to the grain chickens eat and the type of eggs hatched. Costco has
even put its socially-conscious corporate reputation on the line, fending
off local critics who have rallied against the Nebraska operation.
This is a big experiment not only for Costco, but the broader industry as
well. Retailers will be watching Costco's plan closely. It's one of the
largest-scale tests of a store's ability to become its own meat supplier.
And there's no guarantee it will work.
The 'inexorable rise of chicken'
Costco is so determined to keep its rotisserie chickens at $4.99 that it's
been willing to lose money selling them in the past. Even as competitors
increased their rotisserie chickens to $5.99 in recent years, Costco held
its price steady.
"As prices changed dramatically and we saw the competition raising the price
, it was a hot price," Costco's chief financial officer Richard Galanti said
in 2014.
Costco was willing to sacrifice "$30 million, $40 million a year on gross
margin by keeping it at $4.99," Galanti said the following year. "That is
what we do for a living."
Jeff Lyons, senior vice president of fresh foods at Costco, who joined the
company in 1990 as its first meat buyer, declined to say whether Costco
still loses money selling them. But rotisserie chickens have been a "very,
very good business and very consistent growth for a long period of time," he
said. "We're right about 100 million right now."
But in recent years, it has become even more difficult for Costco to keep
its rotisserie chicken prices down. Americans are eating more chicken than
ever before, and the company faces supply challenges and cost pressures in
the highly concentrated poultry industry.
A small number of massive producers dominate America's chicken supply: Tyson
, Pilgrim's Pride, Sanderson Farms, Perdue and Koch Foods. Together, those
companies control more than 60% of America's $65 billion poultry market,
according to Watt Poultry, a meat industry publication.
"A more consolidated industry has more bargaining power against its
customers," said Timothy Ramey, a longtime poultry industry analyst.
Costco wants to reduce its reliance on those big producers.
Traditional chicken suppliers are also producing fewer birds to be sold as
rotisserie chickens.
An estimated 15% of chickens today are sold as whole birds, down from around
50% of all poultry in the 1980s, according to the Department of Agriculture
. Instead, they are chopped up into breasts, legs, thighs, chicken nuggets
and wings to feed Americans' insatiable appetite for chicken at grocery
stores and fast-food restaurants.
"Make no mistake: Consumers want cheap Walmart chicken," said Ramey. "That
explains the inexorable rise of chicken."
As the number of full-sized birds in production drops, bird weights are
going up to keep up with demand. Companies like Tyson Foods can make a
higher profit by cutting up and skinning heavier chickens and selling their
parts.
Bird weights are expected to continue rising, presenting a problem for
Costco. Costco needs birds around six pounds to cook in stores.
"We were having trouble getting the size bird we wanted on a consistent
basis," said Lyons from Costco. "We couldn't take a seven-pound bird or an
eight-pound bird and make it work. They're too big. They wouldn't even fit
on our rotisserie line."
Chicken operations in Nebraska
That's why Costco is seizing control of its chicken supply chain. Costco
believes it can slash costs by bringing production in house, saving up to 35
cents per bird.
It has already done the same with hot dogs.
Costco sold kosher hot dogs at food courts until 2009, but suppliers started
to run low on beef. So it brought production in-house and switched to its
own Kirkland Signature-brand hot dogs. Costco now produces 285 million hot
dogs at a plant in California.
Costco picked Nebraska for the poultry plant because the area had grain,
water and labor available. Those are the three biggest costs involved with
chicken production.
Although Nebraska is not known for chicken production, corn prices have
fallen in recent years, leading to interest from farmers looking for new
opportunities. The United States' trade war with China has also taken a toll
on farmers.
"We had to have farmers who were willing to grow for us, and we found
overwhelming support," Walt Shafer, a veteran Pilgrim's Pride executive
overseeing Costco's operations in Nebraska, said in a recent interview. "
These grain farmers out here want to diversify."
The retailer is building a poultry complex in Fremont, Nebraska, a farming
town near the Iowa border. The complex includes a processing facility,
hatchery and feed mill.
The nearly 400,000 square-foot plant in Fremont will employ 950 workers. The
plant will take 45 weeks to ramp up to full production. Once it's at full
speed, the plant will process about 100 million chickens a year, or 40% of
Costco's annual chicken needs. Costco will process around two million birds
a week in Nebraska to supply to stores on the West Coast.
Costco is partnering with Nebraska farmers to raise breeder hens to lay eggs
. Those eggs will then go into hatcheries, and the chicks will be delivered
to Nebraska growers. The chicks will grow for around 42 days in hundreds of
specialized barns in the area until they mature into six-pound broilers —
chickens raised specifically for their meat. Then they're off to the
processing plant.
If the Costco plant is successful, other major food retailers will likely
make a business case for bringing animal protein needs in-house."
Will Sawyer, animal protein economist at CoBank
There are few examples of retailers vertically integrating in the
agricultural industry like this, experts say. Walmart is seizing control of
part of its Angus beef supply chain, and both Walmart and Kroger have
integrated their milk supplies. But none are as sweeping as Costco's
operations in Nebraska.
"Costco's poultry complex is more than just a multi-million dollar
experiment from a retailer known for doing things differently," said Will
Sawyer, an animal protein economist at CoBank, a leading agriculture lender.
"If the Costco plant is successful, other major food retailers will likely
make a business case for bringing animal protein needs in-house."
Contract concerns
$4.99 broilers come at a price beyond Costco's bottom line.
Costco has billed itself as a socially responsible and worker-friendly
company, even earning praise and a store visit from then-President Barack
Obama for raising its minimum wage in 2014.
But by getting into the chicken business, it's wading into a controversial
industry with many skeptics, including some who come from Costco's customer
base. Its poultry farm ambitions have sparked backlash among
environmentalists and farmers' advocates in the Fremont area.
Opponents of the plant in Fremont like Randy Ruppert, a local activist,
worry about the environmental impact of the plant and poultry barns, such as
water contamination from runoff, ammonia from chicken feces and other
health risks. In neighboring Iowa, poultry operations have been linked to
high levels of nitrates in tap water.
"They are bringing degenerative farming to Nebraska, nothing else," said
Ruppert, who formed a nonprofit group, Nebraska Communities United, that has
led resistance to the company. Critics packed local town halls to voice
concerns and put up anti-Costco signs in the area.
The poultry industry has also come under heavy scrutiny for offering unfair
contracts to chicken farmers. Around 90% of broilers in the United States
are raised under contracts with farmers. Under the contract system, farmers
build the barns and invest in their upkeep, while larger companies supply
them with chicks and feed.
Grain farmers in Nebraska, who previously farmed corn and soybeans, are
investing $350 million collectively and building barns to raise chickens.
Most of the farmers had not previously grown chickens, so Costco is
responsible for educating and leading the farmers.
Costco claims that it's setting a "new and improved standard" for industry
contracts. "Our contract, we think, has one of the best pay rates in the
industry," Shafer said in the interview.
Opponents, however, argue that Costco's 15-year contracts are a risky
investment for farmers.
They are bringing degenerative farming to Nebraska — nothing else."
Randy Ruppert, founder of Nebraska Communities United
"We all hoped that Costco was going to present the opportunity to start to
build a better system for poultry," said Lynn Hayes, an attorney at Farmers'
Legal Action Group, a nonprofit group that provides legal services to
farmers.
But the contracts are a "letdown," she said. "It's still far from good
enough to justify the kind of investments that farmers have to put into it"
because their barns can't be repurposed for other uses if their operations
disappoint.
Robert Taylor, a professor emeritus of agricultural economics at the
University of Auburn and a longtime critic of the poultry industry, blasted
Costco's contracts. "This particular form of contract agriculture
essentially makes the farmer an indentured servant," he said. "The farmer is
basically reduced to a chicken house janitor."
Taylor argued that Costco growers' annual income for chicken farming will
come out to around $60,000 after labor expenses. That's a lot less than the
$90,000 to $130,000 Costco says farmers will bring home in pay.
Costco pushed back on these charges.
Shafer, the executive leading poultry operations in Nebraska for Costco,
said "we have one of the lowest risk poultry contracts available" because
Costco's poultry business keep growing every year.
"I have no doubt that Costco will continue to do the right thing by our
growers for the next 15 years and beyond," he said.
Despite a contentious response and the high costs of pushing into the
poultry industry, Costco remains confident that the Nebraska experiment is
key to its growth.
"We know that we're going to be in poultry. We see the future," said Costco'
s Lyons. "We're always working five to 10 years out front."
2019 Cable News Network, Inc. A WarnerMedia Company. All Rights
Reserved. | C*******A
发帖数: 1980 | | d****o
发帖数: 32610 | 3 猴父子的马鬃烤鸡不也就五六块吗
为啥都喜欢说Costco的
adding
before
【在 W*****B 的大作中提到】
: It's only $4.99. But Costco's rotisserie chicken comes at a huge price
: Updated 8:06 AM EDT October 11, 2019
: At the back of Costco's stores, past the televisions, jewelry, jumbo-sized
: ketchup jugs and tubs of mixed nuts, is one of the retailer's most prized
: items: The rotisserie chicken that costs just $4.99.
: Cheap Kirkland Signature rotisserie chickens aren't only a quick way for
: families to get dinner on the table. For Costco, the chickens are a lure,
: pulling customers into stores and getting them to browse the aisles, adding
: sometimes hundreds of dollars worth of items to their shopping carts before
: they pick up that bird.
| W*****B
发帖数: 4796 | 4 后父子的应该是7块吧？
【在 d****o 的大作中提到】
: 猴父子的马鬃烤鸡不也就五六块吗
: 为啥都喜欢说Costco的
:
: adding
: before
| d****o
发帖数: 32610 | 5 反正差球不多
【在 W*****B 的大作中提到】
: 后父子的应该是7块吧？
| H*V
发帖数: 2770 | | g**********1
发帖数: 1 | | D**S
发帖数: 24887 | 8 WFM的烤鸡是7.99吧，而且个头小。
【在 d****o 的大作中提到】
: 猴父子的马鬃烤鸡不也就五六块吗
: 为啥都喜欢说Costco的
:
: adding
: before
| W*****B
发帖数: 4796 | 9 不可能这么便宜。5块钱Costco肯定是赔钱卖
【在 g**********1 的大作中提到】
: 鸡的成本一块吧
| h*h
发帖数: 27852 | 10 不可能赔钱
【在 W*****B 的大作中提到】
: 不可能这么便宜。5块钱Costco肯定是赔钱卖
| | | r***k
发帖数: 13586 | 11 别的店也都有价钱差不多的烤鸡，比如沃尔玛之类的。可能个头比costco的小一点。 | g***n
发帖数: 14250 | 12 沃尔玛没有现烤的熟食。safeway 等菜店有，小多了
: 别的店也都有价钱差不多的烤鸡，比如沃尔玛之类的。可能个头比costco的小一
点。
【在 r***k 的大作中提到】
: 别的店也都有价钱差不多的烤鸡，比如沃尔玛之类的。可能个头比costco的小一点。
| E******d
发帖数: 3514 | 13 你住在什么农村？连超级沃尔玛都没有
【在 g***n 的大作中提到】
: 沃尔玛没有现烤的熟食。safeway 等菜店有，小多了
:
:
: 别的店也都有价钱差不多的烤鸡，比如沃尔玛之类的。可能个头比costco的小一
: 点。
:
| g***n
发帖数: 14250 | 14 超级沃尔玛那才是大农村。。。
: 你住在什么农村？连超级沃尔玛都没有
【在 E******d 的大作中提到】
: 你住在什么农村？连超级沃尔玛都没有
| z***t
发帖数: 10817 | 15
他们廊坊的怎么懂这些细节
我就说小手 胡安 困先生 回声木别装在美国了
【在 g***n 的大作中提到】
: 超级沃尔玛那才是大农村。。。
:
:
: 你住在什么农村？连超级沃尔玛都没有
:
| Y***i
发帖数: 1932 | | o******y
发帖数: 58 | 17 廊庑回声木原来廊坊遥控去沃尔玛，穷得连靠死狗会员卡都买不起。
【在 E******d 的大作中提到】
: 你住在什么农村？连超级沃尔玛都没有
| o******y
发帖数: 58 | 18 靠死狗的鸡很大，我们全家四口可以吃两顿，加上人工，当然是亏的。
【在 C*******A 的大作中提到】
: 鸡越来越小
| b*****1
发帖数: 1731 | 19 这么大的鸡吃两顿？也太牛了。
【在 o******y 的大作中提到】
: 靠死狗的鸡很大，我们全家四口可以吃两顿，加上人工，当然是亏的。
| j*******n
发帖数: 10868 | 20 个头不是问题，文章说costco要求鸡都是6磅左右的，一直没有变，但现在的便宜鸡都
超标
【在 C*******A 的大作中提到】
: 鸡越来越小
| | | E******d
发帖数: 3514 | 21 扣死扣一直是劳模老黑最爱。狗粮老酱以为高档羊羊得意。
【在 o******y 的大作中提到】
: 廊庑回声木原来廊坊遥控去沃尔玛，穷得连靠死狗会员卡都买不起。
| s***c
发帖数: 1926 | 22 买costco的烤鸡自己蘸酱油，吃起来和香港人的豉油烤鸡区别大吗？
adding
before
【在 W*****B 的大作中提到】
: It's only $4.99. But Costco's rotisserie chicken comes at a huge price
: Updated 8:06 AM EDT October 11, 2019
: At the back of Costco's stores, past the televisions, jewelry, jumbo-sized
: ketchup jugs and tubs of mixed nuts, is one of the retailer's most prized
: items: The rotisserie chicken that costs just $4.99.
: Cheap Kirkland Signature rotisserie chickens aren't only a quick way for
: families to get dinner on the table. For Costco, the chickens are a lure,
: pulling customers into stores and getting them to browse the aisles, adding
: sometimes hundreds of dollars worth of items to their shopping carts before
: they pick up that bird.
| B*Q
发帖数: 25729 | 23 排骨也不错
烤鸡、排骨、热狗、披萨
都是好东西
可惜抠死抠附近房子太贱
要不然搬过去住倒也不错 |
|
