How does the Costco Chicken Plant Work?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tuesday, we got into a fun discussion about chickens, which
is always fun. I had run across an article about
how Costco maintains that four ninety nine price on those
rotisserie chickens, as they have from the beginning. And we
got the big plant here and or just outside home

(00:22):
on the Fremont area, and some of these jaw dropping
numbers are interesting in the number of chickens produced there.
And I heard from Jessica Kolderman because she'd been getting
buzzed all morning. Hey, they're talking about the Costco chickens.
Jessica joins us for a bit. Jessica, good morning, Good morning.
You are you are the spokes chicken for the Costco

(00:45):
plant or the spokesperson for Lincoln Premium Poultry. We think
of it as the Costco chicken plant, but it's Lincoln
Premium Poultry. These numbers two million per week, is that right?

Speaker 2 (01:00):
That is correct? Yes?

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Holy cow. Now where if we take off from Ama
we head up two seventy five to Fremont, where will
we see this plant.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
We are on the south side of Fremont in what
is currently the kind of industrial park, the industrial area
there on right just north of the Platte River, Okay.
So it's a nice complex. We have a plant and
then also a hatchery and a feed mill, so we
kind of do it all right there by Lincoln Premium.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Ful Tree and you acquire, well, the brilliant thing the
Costco did because it's obviously not that profitable at four
ninety and nine a bird, but they have integrated the hatching, feeding, shipping,
and cooking. The supply chain is all in house. And
that plant there, Jessica, where do you acquire all the birds?

Speaker 2 (01:51):
So we have partnerships with local farm families around the region.
They go into Iowa, so we have some families in Iowa.
They go as far north as Dixon County, as far
south as Lancaster County, and as far west as I
think Nance County. So we have about one hundred farm
families that we consider, you know, part of the LTP

(02:12):
family and partners and have great relationships with them. I
think the one of the best stories of this whole
thing is the amount of young people that have been
able to either come back to the family farm or
stay on the family farm. I'm from Seward. I've got
about a dozen farm families in Seward County, it's a
really really great thing for the state of Nebraska.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, well, a big economic impact. What I say, the
number one point two billion.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yes, that is correct, and that number has That was
our projected number, but it's been verified by a research
project at the University of Nebraska, so those numbers are solid.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
One of the things that I asked wondered aloud about
the other morning when we were talking, and I must
say I have not and we usually hear complaints when
people have plans. I have not heard a lot about
negatives with this plant. Are there any issues with neighbors
as far as any odors or anything like.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
That, You know, I don't. I don't hear much either
about it. Every once in a while I have somebody
mentioned it, but you know, it's We use a tool
from the University of Nebraska called the Oder footprint when
we're having these approved, and we try to stay away
from residences anywhere that odor might be. You know, I
live in Seward. I had somebody come up in the

(03:28):
coffee shop, you know, about two years after we started these,
and he said, hey, when are you going to start
building those barns? And I said, well, you know, they've
been there for two years. So I don't I really don't.
I don't think that they have a negative impact. And
the reality is we're in rural America, we're in farm country.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Well, I remember there was controversy at the beginning when
it was first announced.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
I think there's a lot of misinformation and a lot
of unknown people, don't you know, they get scared about
things that they don't know about. We've done a lot
of education. You know, we're very open. We invite people
to tour, We invite people to get to know those farmers.
You know, it's there's no mystery here. We're making food
and that food goes into your local Costco warehouses and

(04:16):
costco warehouses around the entire country. And when you go
to get a rotisserie chicken or a six pack of
fresh chicken from those Costa warehouses, you're getting a product
from the Midwest from you know, free Mount Nebraska.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Is this a seven day a week operation.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
No, it's actually a five day a week operation. We
have two shifts and then an overnight sanitation and maintenance shift.
And uh, you know, I think our people are really happy.
We've created really great culture. We have a lot of
we have a lot of fun that's funny. You know,
it's a factory. But we have a really great family

(04:53):
there and you know we all we're all in it together.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
That's four hundred thousand check on this process. Today, I'm
trying to imagine, can people get Can I come up
there and get a tour? Can anybody get a tour? Right?

Speaker 2 (05:05):
You can get a tour? Absolutely. I mean we don't
have a full time tour guide, but we do a
lot of tours. In fact, I think every poultry company
in the United States has been through they fly in
to do a tour. We have probably the most innovation
in the entire country. And now people from Europe are
starting to come see our plant because we have all

(05:28):
of the innovation in one hub, in one building, right,
And that's that's a really you know a good draw Well,
that's got.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
To be a ton of automation, computerized the processing. I
assume I have.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
A lot of technicians with you know who do robotics,
you know, automation, uh, electrical, it's a in a lot
of it. People, It's a it's a process. It's not
something that I'm just going to walk in there with
my knife and start cutting things. It's uh it's it's
really automated. We have new robots that do the trusting

(06:04):
and so a job that was once done by hand
when we opened is now all automated with robots. And
we're always yeah, is it a big employer?

Speaker 1 (06:14):
This plant?

Speaker 2 (06:15):
We have twelve hundred people in the company and about
you know, eight hundred and some are in the plant.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
That's awesome. I love those check ins, man, but you
did so you did? They just get shipped out and
what form from your plant when they go over to Costco?

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Just the raw bird they're marinated. So and fifty percent
of our product is rot history. Fifty percent of our
product is cut up and so those are the fresh
six packs that you buy in the case. They're at
the Costa warehouse as well.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
Awesome, Jessica, thanks great info. It's a lot of fun.
I appreciate the time this morning.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Absolutely come visit as.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
All right, it'll be fun to see that, I think.
Jessica Kolderman from Lincoln Premium Poultry the Costco chicken plant
there at Fremont