If You Can’t Beat Costco, Join Costco: Walmart’s Rotisserie Chicken Copycat Strategy Shows Where Grocerant Growth Is Going

 

There is an old business saying: “If you can’t beat them, join them.”

Walmart’s latest rotisserie-chicken marketing move may be one of the most entertaining examples of that strategy I have seen in food retail according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

But beneath the limited-edition $5.97 Chicken Purse, the bag charms and the social-media fun is a much bigger food-retailing story.

It is about Costco, packaging, price, prepared food, convenience, brand identity and the growing power of fresh-prepared meal components.

And from my perspective as the Grocerant Guru®, Walmart has learned an important lesson: when a competitor owns a consumer food ritual, sometimes the smartest strategy is not to invent a new ritual. It is to make your version better, cheaper, easier and more culturally relevant.

Costco Didn't Invent the Bag — But It Made the Packaging Change Strategic

Let's get one food fact straight.

Costco was not the first retailer to put rotisserie chickens into flexible bags. Walmart, Whole Foods and other grocers were already using similar packaging. When Costco began transitioning its famous Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken from rigid plastic clamshells to flexible bags in 2024, it was actually following an established packaging direction.

But Costco did something much more important.

It made the packaging part of the conversation.

Costco said the flexible packaging could reduce its plastic use by roughly 75%, or about 17 million pounds of plastic annually, while eliminating the need for an estimated 1,000 freight trucks and reducing carbon emissions by approximately 4,000 metric tons.

That is not simply a packaging change.

That is food merchandising economics meeting supply-chain economics meeting sustainability.

And Costco had something most retailers don't have:

A $4.99 product with cult status.

The $4.99 Costco rotisserie chicken has remained essentially unchanged for years despite inflation and higher operating costs. In fiscal 2025, Costco sold approximately 157.4 million rotisserie chickens globally—more than 431,000 per day.

That is an extraordinary number for a single prepared-food item.

The lesson is equally extraordinary:

Packaging doesn't have to make the food more expensive. Packaging can actually become part of the value equation.

Why Costco Will Continue to Lead Whole-Rotisserie-Chicken Sales

I see three reasons Costco will remain exceptionally difficult to dislodge in whole rotisserie chicken.

1. Costco owns the value benchmark

At $4.99, Costco has created a consumer reference point.

Once consumers know they can purchase a large, ready-to-eat whole chicken for $4.99, every other retailer has to explain why its chicken costs more.

That is enormously powerful.

Costco isn't merely selling chicken.

It is selling a definition of value.

2. Costco has vertically integrated the chicken equation

Costco's Nebraska poultry operation was created specifically to help control the economics and supply of its rotisserie chicken program. The facility processes enormous volumes of poultry and gives Costco a level of supply-chain control that most supermarket competitors simply cannot replicate.

That matters because the real battle isn't just over the price on the deli sign.

It is over:

bird cost + processing + labor + packaging + transportation + shrink + merchandising + margin.

Costco has spent years building the infrastructure around the chicken.

3. The chicken is a traffic driver, not merely a deli item

This may be the most important point.

Costco doesn't necessarily need to make its money on the chicken.

The chicken gets the consumer into the warehouse, and the warehouse then gets the opportunity to sell everything else.

That is the classic loss-leader/grocerant traffic-driver strategy.

And it works particularly well because the product solves an immediate meal problem.

“What's for dinner?”

Costco has an answer.

For $4.99.

Walmart's Response: If You Can't Beat the Packaging, Join It

Here is where the story gets interesting.

Walmart has long had an enormous rotisserie-chicken business of its own. The retailer has reported selling 103 rotisserie chickens per minute, and Walmart says approximately one in every 12 Walmart customers purchases at least one rotisserie chicken each year.

So Walmart does not have a chicken problem.

It has a brand-positioning problem.

Costco owns the narrative of the inexpensive, oversized, iconic rotisserie chicken.

Walmart has the scale to compete—but it needs to make its own chicken culturally relevant.

And that is where the packaging—and now the purse—comes in.

Three reasons Walmart was effectively forced toward Costco-style packaging economics

First: cost pressure.

Flexible packaging can use substantially less material and occupy less space than rigid clamshell packaging. Costco's own packaging analysis demonstrates the potential scale of those savings.

For a retailer selling chicken at enormous volume, pennies matter.

Second: operational efficiency.

Flexible packaging is easier to store and transport and takes up less space than rigid containers. That can influence transportation, storage, handling and refrigeration economics.

When you are operating at Walmart scale, small efficiencies become big numbers.

Third: consumers increasingly want food that travels.

This is the larger Grocerant lesson.

Today's fresh-prepared food isn't necessarily eaten standing next to the deli counter.

It is taken home.

It is carried to work.

It is used in another meal.

It becomes sandwiches, salads, tacos, casseroles, soups and snacks.

FMI reports that 53% of consumers describe their typical meal preparation as a mix of scratch-cooked and semi- or fully prepared foods.

That is precisely where rotisserie chicken becomes more than dinner.

It becomes a meal component.

Walmart's Chicken Purse Is Actually More Strategic Than It Looks

At first glance, Walmart's new Chicken Purse is just fun.

The retailer launched limited-edition purses in Traditional and Lemon Pepper "flavors" for $5.97—the same price as its rotisserie chicken. It also introduced chicken-themed charms and Great Value hot-sauce and seasoning charms.

The purse reportedly generated enough demand to sell out quickly, creating a secondary-market buzz almost immediately.

But the real marketing genius isn't the purse.

It is this:

Walmart is taking a food product and turning it into a brand asset.

Walmart says its rotisserie chicken generated more than 15,000 social mentions during the previous year.

That is exactly what food retailers want.

A product that consumers don't merely purchase.

A product consumers talk about.

But Walmart Is Now Stuck in the Middle

And this is where I believe Walmart needs to be careful.

Walmart has successfully joined the rotisserie-chicken conversation.

But it risks becoming stuck in the middle.

There are three reasons.

1. Costco owns the extreme-value halo

Costco's $4.99 chicken is almost impossible to attack directly without attacking Costco's entire business model.

Walmart's $5.97 chicken is still an exceptional value, but it isn't the same value proposition.

Costco says:

“Look how much chicken you get for $4.99.”

Walmart says:

“Look how much fun our chicken is.”

Those are different messages.

2. Walmart cannot win the specialty-food experience simply by being cheaper

This is where Walmart encounters retailers such as Publix, Kroger and Albertsons.

These competitors can emphasize fresh-food quality, deli merchandising, meal solutions, regional preferences, prepared sides and broader supermarket meal occasions.

The battlefield is therefore moving from:

“Who sells the cheapest chicken?”

to:

“Who owns the entire meal occasion?”

That is a much more interesting battle.

3. Walmart risks becoming famous for the chicken without owning the meal

The chicken purse proves Walmart understands the power of the product.

But the next step is more important.

What does Walmart sell with the chicken?

Potato salad?

Fresh vegetables?

Macaroni and cheese?

Bakery rolls?

Salad?

Dessert?

Beverages?

A family meal bundle?

A two-person dinner?

A lunch solution?

A next-day sandwich solution?

This is where Walmart has an enormous opportunity.

Because the future of retail food isn't necessarily selling more whole chickens.

It is selling more meals built around the chicken.

The Real Grocery Battle Is Becoming Grocerant

FMI's research makes the opportunity particularly clear.

Its 2025 Power of Foodservice at Retail report found that consumers choosing deli-prepared foods instead of restaurant meals more than doubled from 12% in 2017 to 28% in 2025. More than half of Americans—53%—now take a hybrid approach to meals, combining deli-prepared foods with items prepared at home. Retail foodservice dollar sales reached $52.1 billion, up 1.6% over the prior 12 months.

That is the Grocerant Revolution in one paragraph.

The grocery store is no longer simply competing with the restaurant for ingredients.

It is competing for the meal occasion.

And rotisserie chicken is one of the best weapons in that battle.

FMI also points directly to rotisserie chicken as an example of how consumers use a prepared food as the foundation for multiple meals—including salads, sandwiches and casseroles.

That is why I believe Walmart's Chicken Purse is amusing—but the real opportunity is sitting in the deli.

Three Grocerant Guru® Insights for Walmart

1. Stop selling the chicken. Start selling the meal ecosystem.

Walmart should build highly visible “Build Your Meal Around Our Chicken” merchandising.

The chicken becomes the protein anchor.

Then Walmart sells the sides, salad, bread, beverage and dessert.

That transforms a $5.97 transaction into a much larger basket.

2. Make the packaging part of the brand—not just part of the operation.

Costco demonstrated that packaging can influence cost, logistics and consumer conversation.

Walmart should make its rotisserie packaging instantly recognizable and use it consistently across its ecosystem.

The Chicken Purse demonstrates that Walmart already understands the power of visual recognition.

Now apply that thinking to the actual food.

3. Own the “tonight + tomorrow” meal occasion.

This is perhaps Walmart's biggest opportunity.

A rotisserie chicken should generate multiple consumption occasions.

Tonight: chicken + two sides.

Tomorrow: chicken sandwich.

Next day: chicken salad.

Later: chicken soup, tacos or casserole.

That is how fresh-prepared food becomes a grocery growth engine rather than simply a deli department.

The Bottom Line

The Walmart Chicken Purse may look like a novelty.

I see something different.

I see a retailer recognizing that food can become culture, packaging can become marketing, and a prepared-food item can become a brand.

Costco didn't invent the rotisserie chicken.

It didn't invent the flexible packaging bag, either.

But Costco did something more important:

It built one of retail's most powerful food-value propositions around the chicken.

Walmart now appears to be saying:

“If you can't beat them, join them—and then make it Walmart.”

The question is whether Walmart stops at the chicken purse.

Because the real money isn't hanging from a shoulder.

It is sitting in the shopping cart next to the chicken.

And that is where the next great grocerant battle will be fought.

Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideas look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how our Grocerant Guru® can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit: us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Popeyes Lost Its Mojo: How the Chicken Sandwich Created a Monster—and Then Competitors Learned to Feed It

 

There is a fascinating lesson buried inside the Popeyes story according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Popeyes didn’t lose it’s Mojo because the chicken sandwich failed.

It lost its Mojo because the chicken sandwich succeeded so spectacularly that competitors learned how to take the category momentum Popeyes created—and Popeyes did not consistently remain the brand defining it.

That distinction matters.

In 2019, Popeyes didn't simply launch another menu item. It created one of the most powerful foodservice marketing events of the past decade.

And then, over time, it allowed the rest of the restaurant industry to turn Popeyes' innovation into everybody's chicken opportunity.

That, in my view as the Grocerant Guru®, is the real story.

The Chicken Sandwich Was a Sales Rocket

When Popeyes introduced its Chicken Sandwich nationally in August 2019, the response was extraordinary.

The sandwich sold out in roughly two weeks. Traffic reportedly peaked at 256% growth on August 23, while the November relaunch produced a reported 299% increase in foot traffic on launch day.

The financial impact was even more impressive.

Popeyes finished 2019 with 12.1% comparable-sales growth, compared with just 1.6% in 2018. Fourth-quarter comparable sales jumped 34.4%, while systemwide sales increased 42.3% to approximately $1.3 billion.

And this wasn't simply a one-quarter phenomenon.

By 2020, Popeyes had added approximately $760 million in domestic sales over the preceding year, while system sales had increased roughly 42% over two years, or about $1.3 billion. Average unit volumes reportedly climbed from approximately $1.4 million to $1.8 million.

That's not a successful LTO.

That's brand transformation.

The sandwich gave Popeyes something every restaurant brand desperately wants:

A reason to visit.
A reason to talk.
A reason to switch.
And a reason to come back.

Popeyes Didn't Just Sell a Sandwich—It Owned the Conversation

Here's what made the 2019 launch so powerful.

Popeyes didn't have to spend years explaining why consumers should care.

The product itself became the story.

A social-media exchange with Chick-fil-A helped ignite the so-called chicken sandwich wars, while media comparisons turned the sandwich into entertainment. Apex Marketing estimated the launch generated approximately $65 million in earned media value in its first 15 days.

That is an extraordinary return on a menu innovation.

But there was another important ingredient:

Popeyes had a point of view.

The brand wasn't trying to be everybody's chicken restaurant.

It had Louisiana roots.

It had Cajun flavor.

It had attitude.

It had personality.

And suddenly it had the chicken sandwich.

The brand's own retrospective describes 2019 as the tipping point for a broader Popeyes renaissance, with U.S. comparable sales reaching 37.9% in Q4 2019 and 29.2% in Q1 2020.

Popeyes had Mojo.

Big Mojo.

Then the Industry Did What the Industry Always Does

It copied the opportunity.

The Popeyes sandwich helped turn the chicken sandwich from a secondary fast-food offering into a major restaurant battleground.

McDonald's eventually launched the McCrispy.

Wendy's expanded its chicken-sandwich platform.

Burger King expanded its chicken offerings.

Wingstop entered the sandwich game.

Taco Bell created chicken-sandwich-adjacent innovations.

And dozens of other restaurant brands joined the battle.

The result?

Popeyes created the category moment, but competitors increasingly monetized the category.

That's an important difference.

The 2025 Atlantic analysis of the chicken-sandwich phenomenon noted that sandwich consumption increased substantially from 2019 onward and that the product had migrated far beyond traditional chicken chains. McDonald's reportedly now generates roughly $1 billion annually from its McCrispy, while other major chains have expanded their chicken-sandwich portfolios.

Even more interesting is Wingstop.

Wingstop introduced its chicken sandwich in 2022 and subsequently reported that the product was bringing in a younger customer base, including Gen Z and millennials. Many first-time visitors came specifically for the sandwich and then explored other menu categories on subsequent visits.

That's exactly what Popeyes should have wanted its Chicken Sandwich to do for Popeyes.

Instead, competitors learned how to use the sandwich as a customer-acquisition platform.

The Bigger Problem: Popeyes Lost the Narrative

This is where I believe Popeyes lost some of its Mojo.

A great restaurant brand needs more than a great product.

It needs a repeatable narrative.

Popeyes had that narrative in 2019:

We have the chicken sandwich everybody is talking about.

But the marketplace eventually moved on.

Suddenly everybody had a chicken sandwich.

So the question became:

Why Popeyes?

And that is a much harder question.

Popeyes' challenge wasn't necessarily that its food became bad.

The problem was that its competitive differentiation became less obvious.

The brand that had once disrupted the chicken category increasingly found itself participating in the category it had disrupted.

That's a dangerous transition.

Then Came the Value Problem

This is where the story becomes even more important in 2024, 2025 and 2026.

Consumers became increasingly price-sensitive.

Restaurant brands responded with value platforms, bundles, meal deals and increasingly aggressive entry-price messaging.

Popeyes, however, was slower to respond.

Restaurant Dive reported that Popeyes' sales pressure began in the third quarter of 2024 as competitors leaned into value while Popeyes was not sufficiently focused on the consumer's growing price sensitivity.

And that matters enormously in today's restaurant environment.

The consumer doesn't evaluate a chicken sandwich in isolation anymore.

They evaluate:

Sandwich + fries + drink + convenience + speed + price.

That's a grocerant lesson as much as a restaurant lesson.

Consumers are increasingly shopping for the meal occasion, not merely the entrée.

McDonald's understands this.

Grocery deli understands this.

Convenience stores understand this.

And increasingly, successful chicken chains understand this.

The competitive question isn't:

"Who has the best chicken sandwich?"

It is:

"Who gives me the most compelling meal for the money, with the least friction?"

Popeyes Also Has an Execution Problem

There's another uncomfortable issue.

A powerful brand promise is only as good as the restaurant experience that delivers it.

By 2026, Restaurant Brands International was acknowledging the need to improve Popeyes' operational consistency, including speed, accuracy and reliability. The company was also moving toward simplifying the menu and strengthening value.

That is critical.

Because the original Popeyes Mojo wasn't created by advertising alone.

It was created by the intersection of:

Great food + cultural relevance + scarcity + social conversation + value + discovery.

When execution becomes inconsistent, the brand loses another piece of that equation.

And when the menu becomes too complicated, the restaurant can become slower precisely when consumers are demanding greater convenience.

The Chicken Sandwich Became Bigger Than Popeyes

This may be the most ironic part of the entire story.

Popeyes helped make fried chicken sandwiches culturally important.

The sandwich became one of the defining handheld foods of modern foodservice.

And that created enormous opportunity for restaurants, convenience stores, grocery prepared foods and other food channels.

From a Grocerant Guru® perspective, this is exactly what happens when a food innovation crosses channels.

Once consumers understand the occasion, the food can migrate.

Chicken sandwiches moved from:

Chicken restaurants → burger restaurants → fast casual → convenience → grocery prepared foods → virtually everywhere.

The innovation became democratized.

Popeyes had created the lightning.

The industry built power lines.

The 2025 Sales Number Should Get Popeyes' Attention

According to Nation's Restaurant News, Popeyes' U.S. sales declined 0.5% in 2025, compared with 3.9% growth in 2024. By contrast, Wingstop grew sales 11% in 2025 after an extraordinary 36.8% increase in 2024.

That comparison is revealing.

Popeyes essentially invented the modern chicken-sandwich moment.

Yet another chicken brand is demonstrating how to turn chicken innovation into sustained traffic and customer acquisition.

That's the Mojo gap.

And the answer isn't simply another chicken sandwich.

Popeyes needs to rediscover what made consumers care about Popeyes.

 

Three Insights to Help Popeyes Get Its Mojo Back

1. Stop Marketing the Chicken Sandwich—Start Marketing the Popeyes Meal

Popeyes shouldn't abandon its Chicken Sandwich.

It should demote the sandwich from being the entire story to being the gateway into the Popeyes ecosystem.

Build powerful meal architecture around it:

Chicken Sandwich + Side + Beverage + Louisiana flavor = Popeyes occasion.

The objective should be to increase frequency, attachment and perceived value—not simply sandwich transactions.

That's where Popeyes can reconnect with the grocerant consumer who increasingly thinks in terms of complete meal solutions.

2. Make Louisiana the Differentiator Again

The biggest mistake would be trying to out-Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A, out-McDonald's McDonald's or out-Wingstop Wingstop.

Popeyes already owns something those brands don't: Louisiana.

The brand should aggressively reconnect food, flavor, storytelling and merchandising to its Louisiana culinary DNA.

Not artificial Cajun theming.

Real culinary authority.

Popeyes needs more food people can talk about—not simply promotions people can redeem.

The next Mojo moment should make consumers say:

"You can't get that anywhere else."

3. Rebuild the Brand Around Three Words: Flavor, Value, Speed

This is the most important lesson.

Popeyes needs a new operating equation:

FLAVOR — Give consumers a compelling reason to choose Popeyes.

VALUE — Give them a compelling reason to choose Popeyes today.

SPEED — Give them a compelling reason to choose Popeyes right now.

The original Chicken Sandwich solved the first problem spectacularly.

Today, Popeyes has to solve all three simultaneously.

Because in 2019, consumers were willing to wait in line for the sandwich.

In 2026, consumers want the sandwich, the meal, the value—and they want it without the wait.

That's the new restaurant battlefield.

And my advice to Popeyes is simple:

Don't try to recreate 2019.

Recreate the thinking that made 2019 possible.

Find something uniquely Popeyes. Make it craveable. Make it culturally relevant. Make the value obvious. Make the experience reliable.

Then give consumers a reason to talk about it.

That's how Popeyes gets its Mojo back.

Tap into the Foodservice Solutions® team for greater understanding of New Electricity or for a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869