The Nostalgic Fast Food Chain That Inspired Costco's Rotisserie Chicken

It seems no Costco run is truly complete without buying one of its rotisserie chickens, which still cost just $4.99. You can pretty much always find a use for the hot, moist, and salty chicken, whether it's to eat as a snack in the parking lot or to meal prep for the following week. Believe it or not, Costco's rotisserie chicken might have never actually made it onto the shelves had it not been for a chain of restaurants headquartered in Massachusetts. Boston Market, which still operates 16 locations across the U.S.,started out as Boston Chicken in 1985. The brand specialized in selling takeaway rotisserie chickens, as well as sides, which made it a convenient stop for busy people on their way home from work who were too tired to cook dinner. 

Grocery stores like Costco watched as people who would normally have come in to stores for dinner ingredients instead went to Boston Market for hot, ready-to-eat foods. By 1994, the warehouse chain wanted to lure those hungry customers back, so it began competing against Boston Market's rotisserie chickens with its own hot poultry. These days, Costco's rotisserie chicken is truly a step above the rest. However, Boston Market somehow made it onto our list of the worst chain restaurant chicken pot pies.

Whether it was pure luck or some very keen foresight on the part of Costco executives in the early '90s, the decision to sell rotisserie chicken did very well for the company. The warehouse chain tallied up the numbers and shared that it sold 154 million rotisserie chickens in 2024. This topped the previous year's sales by 17 million, which clearly indicates how wildly popular this product has become for Costco.

It would be easy to pin the blame for Boston Market's decline on Costco, but it wasn't the only chain to see an opportunity and grab it. The same year that Costco started selling rotisserie chicken, Kroger did, too. Some years later, chains like Safeway and Sam's Club followed suit. Now, these chickens are as ubiquitous in grocery stores as the deli counters they're often sold from.

Costco continues to sell more than 100 million rotisserie chickens each year, but the price of keeping them in stock is actually higher than any profits they make from selling them. Since the store specializes in bulk buys, however, most customers will pick up several things while they're in the store in addition to their chicken. In other words, the promise of those cheap rotisserie chickens can still lure people in more often, which could in theory turn a profit.