Democratizing Luxury and the Contentious “Invention of the Technological Chicken” in Britain

• Published in: Business history review Vol. 83; no. 2; pp. 267 - 290
• Main Authors: Godley, Andrew, Williams, Bridget
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 2009; Harvard Business School
• Subjects: Agriculture; Antibiotics; Beef; Birds; Business history; Chickens; Consumer behaviour; Farmers; Flocks; Food; Industrial agriculture; Industrial growth; Innovation; Innovations; Livestock industries; Meat consumption; Meats; Packaging; Poultry; Poultry farms; Production systems; Quality standards; Retail industries; Retail trade; Retailing industry; Supply chains; Technological change; United Kingdom; World War II; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US
• ISSN: 0007-6805; 2044-768X
• DOI: 10.1017/S0007680500000520

In 1950, poultry comprised 1 percent of the total meat consumed in Britain. But over the next thirty years, chicken consumption grew at the rate of 10 percent per annum, while overall meat consumption remained stagnant. By 1980, poultry made up a quarter of the total share of the market, replacing beef, mutton, and bacon in the British diet. This transformation was made possible by dramatic changes in production, dependent on technological innovations across several unrelated sectors. While the widespread distribution of cheap chicken led to its mass adoption, the transformation in meateating habits was not without its controversies. The leading retailers, in particular J. Sainsbury, acted as critical intermediaries in this contested market, reconciling consumer uncertainty by attaching their own reputations to product quality, and then by intervening in the quality standards employed in their supply chains.