"Sweetwater Creek" whole chickens at Berkeley Bowl West?

[abstractpoet]

Saw a new brand of pre-packaged whole chickens at Berkeley Bowl West today -- could have sworn it was called "Sweetwater Creek," but Google isn't turning anything up. In any case, they were next to the Mary's chickens, also in plastic wrap, also marked as "air chilled". The main advantage is that these sell for $1.59 a pound, which is significantly cheaper than the Mary's brand. A 4-lb chicken will run you just over $6.

Anyway, I bought one to roast tonight (we were doing Keller's Ad Hoc chicken) and it came out pretty darn good -- it was a nice plump chicken, with a surprisingly high meat to overall weight ratio for a small bird. I was just wondering if others have had experiences with or thoughts on this particular brand - especially given that I can't find any information about it online (and might very well be getting the name wrong). Is this in fact a new brand that Berkeley Bowl just started carrying, or did I just not notice it before?

I thought it tasted at least as good as the Mary's chickens, if not better, but I haven't had a Mary's chicken recently enough to say for sure. But like I said, that price is tough to beat.

[curioushbgeorge]

I know this is an oldish post - but I have a relevant reply.

I am related to and work for the family that owns Mary's Chicken.

Sweetwater Creek and Mary's Chicken are the same company. Usually the two brands sell for the same, or roughly the same, price. The brand are usually not sold at the same market together. Maybe there was a shipping error that sent both brands to the same market and that is why one was selling for less. Either way - same birds, same processing plant, same company.

[ernie in berkeley]

Coincidentally, I also got one of those earlier this week, and can confirm that it's a good deal and quite tasty.