> Building a system to stock its own stores is a way for the company to better manage supply and costs, especially because poultry companies are trending away from raising chickens to be sold whole.
> According to Will Sawyer, a meat industry economist for the Denver-based farm lender CoBank, chicken producers are growing bigger chickens to sell in parts. "The vast majority are processed into chicken breasts or leg quarters or thighs, or they're further processed into strips or nuggets," Sawyer said. "That's where the industry has gone over 50 years now."
1. They're partially insulating themselves from price changes in the chicken market. By raising the chickens themselves, they can guarantee that they'll only pay a certain price for the chicken they raise.
2. Fewer intermediaries = lower prices since there's fewer companies that each need to make some money = higher profit
