Why Costco Built Entire Factories Just to Keep a $1.50 Hot Dog

Описание: Why did Costco spend $750 million building factories to protect products that lose them money? The answer reveals one of the most brilliant business strategies in American retail history.

In 1985, Costco started selling a hot dog and soda combo for $1.50. That price has never changed, not once in 40 years. Not through inflation. Not through supply chain crises. Not even when their supplier demanded higher prices. Instead of negotiating or raising the price, Costco did something no rational business should ever do: they built an entire meat processing facility from scratch.

Then they did it again, spending $450 million on one of the largest chicken processing plants in the United States, processing over 2 million birds every week, and contracting with over 100 local farmers to control everything from the chick to the rotisserie oven.

This is the story of how a $1.50 hot dog became the foundation of a $4 billion recurring revenue machine and why no competitor can copy it.

In this video:

Why Costco's membership model generates 75% of their operating profit

How vertical integration protects their most iconic loss leaders

The psychology behind Costco's store design (sunk cost, limited SKUs, treasure hunt effect)

Why Walmart, Target, and Amazon can't replicate the Costco model

The closed-loop business architecture that makes Costco nearly impossible to compete with

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