Costco uses a single producer, Pilgrim’s Pride, which marinates via injection, trusses and packs 10 birds to a case. The chickens look like pale, plump ghosts as they get threaded onto long rods that fit in ultra-modern, digital-display Inferno 4000 rotisserie ovens. A film of moving water on the oven floor transports dripping grease to a holding tank, to be collected for recycling. It takes 90 minutes to cook a full load of 32 or so; after an hour, it starts to “smell like Costco chicken,” says Tom Borkowski, a deli manager who just transferred from the Woodmore Towne Centre store to one closer to his home in Northern Virginia. Temperature is closely monitored.

Ingredients

Honey Brined Chicken (Contains up to 12 percent of a solution of: Water, Seasoning [Sugar, Salt, Honey Powder {Honey, Evaporated Cane Syrup}, Natural Flavor], Vinegar, Salt), Lemon Pepper Seasoning (Salt, Black Pepper, Citric Acid, Onion, Sugar, Garlic, Calcium Stearate, Silicon Dioxide, Garlic, Calcium Stearate, Silicon Dioxide and Calcium Silicate Added To Make Free Flowing, Celery Seed, Lemon Oil, Yellow 5)