The cost of $4.99 rotisserie chickens: Costco gets sued for animal mistreatment
CNN
In 2019, Costco opened a $450 million poultry processing plant in Nebraska to produce millions of its staple $4.99 Kirkland Signature rotisserie chickens.
It was a rare step for a retail company to take but a sign of just how valuable rotisserie chickens are to Costco's business. The company has sold them at $4.99 for more than a decade, lower than most rivals, and uses them as loss leaders to draw customers into stores. Costco (COST) sold 106 million of the cooked birds last year.
But Costco now faces a lawsuit from two shareholders claiming that the company and its top executives violated animal welfare laws and, in the process, broke their fiduciary duties. The lawsuit calls into question the lengths Costco has gone to keep its key item cheap.
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