chicken economics

[annasuave]

OK, supply-chain people, economists, agri-business folk, and people who just like chicken - what's going on here?

I like chicken. So much so that yesterday, went to buy one with the idea in mind to cook it up and call it dinner. Try as I might, I could not find a frozen chicken to buy under $7.00. No matter how small, not even the B-grade "utility" chickens.

Reasoning that fresh chickens must cost more because of the freezing, I looked at fresh chickens. Starting at $9.00 each.

But yet, as I exit the store, cooked, hot and ready to go chickens are $5.99.

What gives. Why is a hot cooked chicken cheaper than an uncooked frozen one? Supply & demand? Transportation logistics? Marketing tactics?

Is there ever any reason to buy frozen chickens? Or should I just pick up a hot, cooked and ready to go chicken on my way home from work once a week?

[Slava]

Its a lost leader. Pure marketing as you come in for the cooked chicken for cheap and of course need to buy the sides to go with that for some kind of meal. Even to make a chicken sandwich you're on the hook for an outrageously expensive loaf of bread to go with it!

[bizaro86]

I think its because someone rushing into buy a cooked chicken will likely buy a $2.49 tub of macaroni salad, approximate margin $2.29, or something else they make money convenience store style margins on.

[Locke]

Cooked Chickens come with complimentary mind control devices.

[mykalberta]

Canada doesnt have a free market vis a vi chicken production. Everyone who produces chickens in Canada requires quota which is limited (I think Ontario and Quebec are exempt from this of course )

Its possible those cheaper chickens are imported?

[Titan]

Bulk purchasing by the stores on an national scale is probably the answer.

[GreatWhiteEbola]

Best bang for your cluck.

[Akai-Sesui]

How about this?

1.) Process chickens
2.) Sell off as many as fresh chicken as possible
3.) Freeze remaining chicken
4.) Sell off as many frozen chickens as possible
5.) Take the frozen chickens that are near the end of their shelf life and roast them
6.) Sell off as many roasted chickens as possible
7.) Take the remaining unsold roasted chickens and reprocess as chicken salad
8.) Sell off as much of the chicken salad as possible
9.) Take remaining chicken salad and send for processing for sub-human consumption

So the further down the chain we go, the cheaper the chicken is.
So really...that 5.99 chicken is just the stores trying to reduce waste. Both the consumer and producer benefit.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by fotze

nuisance meat

Good name for a punk band.

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by fotze

What I don't understand is why chicken is so expensive vs Beef for Canada compared to the US. Get chicken fajitas in the US and its cheaper than the veggie, like its a nuisance meat there.

In Canada,

Chicken = controlled market
Beef = free market

[Huntingwhale]

[Clarkey]

Marketing 101 dude. As someone mentioned above, it's a loss-leader. They lose $1 or $2 bucks on the roast chicken but get your butt in the store to buy other stuff with bigger margins to hopefully make up the loss.

[SteveToms]

Does this math include Chicken on the Way's basement?