Why do people like Costco so much?

[Muse]

Since this thread started I did some reading. Costco chicken are 6lbs basically the max size that can fit in industrial roasters. They wanted to go bigger for chicken when they opened their Costco chicken farm thingy but it wasn’t possible to roast larger birds without making major changes.
Typical grocery store birds are 3.5 to 5lbs most are smaller (I think the weight number is correct I kind of forgot) birds in regular grocery stores are getting bigger because America’s appetite for chicken has grown and growers are producing bigger birds because that is what consumers want.

Is that before or after cooking?

I hit Costco today and brought home a Rotisserie Chicken, it looked to be big. Home, I measured it at 62oz including juices, IIRC. I figure it weighed a fair amount more before being cooked.

 

[Torn Mind]

Since this thread started I did some reading. Costco chicken are 6lbs basically the max size that can fit in industrial roasters. They wanted to go bigger for chicken when they opened their Costco chicken farm thingy but it wasn’t possible to roast larger birds without making major changes.
Typical grocery store birds are 3.5 to 5lbs most are smaller (I think the weight number is correct I kind of forgot) birds in regular grocery stores are getting bigger because America’s appetite for chicken has grown and growers are producing bigger birds because that is what consumers want.

Hmm, that leaves the question of how those birds were enlarged.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Is that before or after cooking?

I hit Costco today and brought home a Rotisserie Chicken, it looked to be big. Home, I measured it at 62oz including juices, IIRC. I figure it weighed a fair amount more before being cooked.

I would assume pre cooked.

 

[SKORPI0]

Saw some guy (Asian) wheel these out Aug 2020. 32 pieces.

 

[ponyo]

Saw some guy (Asian) wheel these out Aug 2020. 32 pieces.


View attachment 48009

There are restaurants and businesses that buy Costco rotisserie chicken to resell. I know there are restaurants who buy these chicken and reheat it in a smoker to give it some smoked flavor. Then they cut it into quarter or half pieces and plate it with sides and sell it in their restaurant as they made it from scratch. For them, it's cheaper than if they bought the raw chicken and cooked from scratch. And it saves them lot time and work.

 

[JujuFish]

I make PB&J sandwiches when I go hiking, and the latest 'J' I've been using is Kirkland Organic Strawberry Spread. Gotta say, it's pretty delicious with lots of strawberry chunks. Definitely recommend.

 

[JEDI]

I make PB&J sandwiches when I go hiking, and the latest 'J' I've been using is Kirkland Organic Strawberry Spread. Gotta say, it's pretty delicious with lots of strawberry chunks. Definitely recommend.

saw that but bought their mixed berry spread.
will try their strwberry one next time

 

[Muse]

There are restaurants and businesses that buy Costco rotisserie chicken to resell. I know there are restaurants who buy these chicken and reheat it in a smoker to give it some smoked flavor. Then they cut it into quarter or half pieces and plate it with sides and sell it in their restaurant as they made it from scratch. For them, it's cheaper than if they bought the raw chicken and cooked from scratch. And it saves them lot time and work.

I often see what appear to me to be restaurant owners (or their employees, possibly) shopping their ingredients at Costco. They have rolling pallets like that one in post #129, stacked.

 

[Muse]

I make PB&J sandwiches when I go hiking, and the latest 'J' I've been using is Kirkland Organic Strawberry Spread. Gotta say, it's pretty delicious with lots of strawberry chunks. Definitely recommend.

I used to make my own PNB but for many years now I only just buy the Costco Kirkland 2x 28oz organic PNB (always $9.99 for the deuce). Great stuff. I store the jars upside down. Makes it easier to stir in the oil when opened.

I have been buying 2lb containers of organic strawberries at Costco all summer, every two weeks. Didn't two days ago because my plums are dropping now. I have made two batches of strawberry preserves with some of those berries. 1lb washed berries, 3/4lb sugar. Can add some lemon juice (optional), simmer, crush with potato masher, can in bottles from a boiling water bath. I mean, I don't think any strawberry preserves off the shelf would beat this.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Just left my local market.
Two roasted chickens each weighed 36 ounces.
$6.99 (each)
These used to be $5.99 I remember the sign but I also haven’t bought one in a long time.

 

[MrSquished]

Costco loses close to 40 million a year on it's rotisserie chickens

The Secrets Behind Costco’s Famous $4.99 Rotisserie Chickens

If you're a loyal Costco member, chances are you're a big fan of the Costco rotisserie chicken. At $4.99, the flavorful bird is a customer favorite—but there's a lot you didn't know.

www.rd.com

 

[TXHokie]

Costco loses close to 40 million a year on it's rotisserie chickens

The Secrets Behind Costco’s Famous $4.99 Rotisserie Chickens

If you're a loyal Costco member, chances are you're a big fan of the Costco rotisserie chicken. At $4.99, the flavorful bird is a customer favorite—but there's a lot you didn't know.

www.rd.com

Sure I got the rotisserie chicken for a mere $5 but I don't recall ever leaving Costco without dropping at least $100. There's no such thing as running into Costco and pick up something quick.

 

[MrSquished]

Sure I got the rotisserie chicken for a mere $5 but I don't recall ever leaving Costco without dropping at least $100. There's no such thing as running into Costco and pick up something quick.

That's usually the case.

Costco doesn't see this as a 40 million dollar loss. It's x amount of cents per chicken buying customer visit that has them come in and walk all the way to the back of the store to get it, passing everything else.

Just like they put milk in the back of the grocery store. Coming to just get milk? Check out everything else first

 

[MtnMan]

Used to do Costco years ago but now the closest one to us is a 2 hr round trip…with good traffic. Just not worth it.

Much the same, except we to make the trip about every 2 months, and feel it's worth it. Sam's is 4 miles away and the bulk of our shopping is done there. There are Costco products we prefer over any other options, and at a price point that makes it a no-brainer.

I do have to hand it to Sam's for convenience, other than being close to home. Scan-n-go app on my phone as option 1, or curbside pickup if for nothing else than it save time. Use it often unless we actually want to look at stuff, or frozen stuff.

 

[SKORPI0]

My typical Costco purchases.


More. some I don't enjoy eating (chicken melts/sweet potato fries/perdue chicken breast nuggets), maybe I'm cooking them wrong.


Not in the pics are the $4.99 Rotisserie chicken, 25lbs. Jasmine rice, Avocado mayonnaise, canned tuna/albacore/sardines.

Seagate 8TB I've purchased months ago when they went on sale - $119.99 from $169.99. Used another 2 both prior to these 4 for archiving/backup of large "files", so far no problems.

 

[JujuFish]

some I don't enjoy eating (chicken melts/sweet potato fries/perdue chicken breast nuggets), maybe I'm cooking them wrong.

This might be a stupid question, but why buy something you don't enjoy eating?

 

[SKORPI0]

This might be a stupid question, but why buy something you don't enjoy eating?

Actually a very good question. Perhaps "enjoy" isn't the right word.
I want to try different food, most were demo/sampled at Costco, so I end up buying them. I have a convection oven and a air fryer, besides the gas oven and can't seem to use it correctly for the chicken nuggets and the sweet potato fries. Like I said. maybe I'm cooking them wrong. The taste is just not there or what I expected.

 

[sactoking]

I've tried the Perdue chicken pieces and sweet potato fries before and I agree that they're not good. The chicken has a really weird, rather nasty aftertaste to it. It much rather have the ultra processed Dino nuggets, at least they taste acceptable.

I've never found any brand of prepared sweet potato fry that was worth anything. It's much more work to buy some tubers, French them, coat them in a bit of cornflour and fry them myself but they're always so much better than anything from a bag.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I used Sam's to buy a king sized mattress years ago. They were running their $600 mattresses at 50% because Serta discontinued that line. I figured $340+tax, including the membership was a decent deal.

If you can find big-item deals that make sense, it's not bad. We buy bulk paper towels and TP at Sam's, as well as generic Zyrtec and a few other similar items that save a ton of money. Bulk food purchases are usually no cheaper there than at our local Kroger stores. I prefer to buy smaller sizes of most products and don't like stockpiling specialty foods unless I'm throwing parties. (and we KNOW that's not a good idea these days)

 

[Zorba]

I often see what appear to me to be restaurant owners (or their employees, possibly) shopping their ingredients at Costco. They have rolling pallets like that one in post #129, stacked.

Saw a guy this weekend with like 10 big boxes of king crab legs. I meant to go look how much they were, but I'm guessing well over $100/ea.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Surprising they don’t limit the loss leader purchases to a size that is really large for a family but too small for a business.
Like 10 limit on roasted chicken
3 limit on king crab legs assuming that is a large enough amount for a family plus a few others.

 

[nakedfrog]

My typical Costco purchases.
More. some I don't enjoy eating (chicken melts/sweet potato fries/perdue chicken breast nuggets), maybe I'm cooking them wrong.
View attachment 48118

Not in the pics are the $4.99 Rotisserie chicken, 25lbs. Jasmine rice, Avocado mayonnaise, canned tuna/albacore/sardines.

Seagate 8TB I've purchased months ago when they went on sale - $119.99 from $169.99. Used another 2 both prior to these 4 for archiving/backup of large "files", so far no problems.

I tried some chicken melts that looked extremely similar to that... I'm glad mine wasn't a box of 15, as they weren't particularly good.

 

[ponyo]

Saw a guy this weekend with like 10 big boxes of king crab legs. I meant to go look how much they were, but I'm guessing well over $100/ea.

Depends on the size of the king crab legs. Price per pound goes up depending on how big the legs are. The largest sized legs I've seen at Costco are 4/7 size which means 10 lb box of crab legs will contain 4 to 7 legs. The smallest size legs I've seen at Costco are 16/20 size which means 10 lb box will contain 16 to 20 legs. 16/20 size legs are usually couple bucks cheaper per pound than 4/7 size legs. The smallest size I will buy are the 9/12 size. I won't buy anything smaller than that. But the size label is bogus and I've yet to buy a box that was accurate. The sizes are always smaller than what the box label indicates. I will buy 4/7 size box and it will contain like 12 or more legs. So that's really 9/12 size or 12/14 size but the box label will say 4/7. It's all a lie. It's not Costco that's lying about the size. It's the seafood processor who sells to Costco.

4/7 size king crab legs are around $33 /lb. So box will be $330 since a box is 10 lbs. Box used to be 20 lbs but they switched to 10 lb box like 8-10 years ago. I remember buying 20 lb box for like $260 or so. King crab used to be around $13-14 /lb back then. That was super nice. I used to get 20 lb box every month or every other month. But now I'm kind of sick of king crab legs and only buy a box every 6 months or so. Which works out fine because now 10 lb box is around $330. It's still worth it but it's not as good as deal as it used to be.

 

[sdifox]

Surprising they don’t limit the loss leader purchases to a size that is really large for a family but too small for a business.
Like 10 limit on roasted chicken
3 limit on king crab legs assuming that is a large enough amount for a family plus a few others.

They have business membership.

 

[ponyo]

Surprising they don’t limit the loss leader purchases to a size that is really large for a family but too small for a business.
Like 10 limit on roasted chicken
3 limit on king crab legs assuming that is a large enough amount for a family plus a few others.

King crab legs are not loss leader. Rotisserie chicken and food court hot dog combo are about the only loss leaders for Costco. Everything else they make money on.