Coles revives free hot chook policy: How to nab a free roast chicken

Supermarket hot chooks are a great way to bring down your food costs — but one shopper has found a way to turn this cheap meal into a freebie.

Coles roast chickens are a favourite for savvy shoppers to get a week’s worth of lunches for less than $10.

And the supermarket giant has relaunched its policy that says if a hot chook isn’t ready to go in the heated cabinet then the company promises to hand over a free bird.

How to score a free roast chook. Picture: Facebook

All the shopper has to do is notify staff there’s none available, and the company policy dictates a voucher must be given to use at another time.

“Sorry we’re out,” the Coles token reads.

“This voucher redeems one Coles hot roast chicken with our compliments.”

Free hot chicken for the savvy shopper.

But the policy has had many bargain hunters chirp up on Facebook recently after a member of the Markdown Addicts Australia group said the deal was back.

“Went to Coles 6.30pm Wednesday night … No hot chickens,” the user said. “Asked for voucher for free chicken, picked up today. That’s lunch sorted for a couple of days.”

Plenty of members of the group who are well versed in the art of sniffing out a deal were surprised by the policy.

Winner winner, chicken dinner. Picture: Facebook

“I didn’t know about this?!” said one Facebook user.

“Learn something new everyday,” said another.

Meanwhile, plenty were aware of the deal and said they kept an eye on the number of hot chooks in the cabinet.

The only thing better than lots of hot chooks is free hot chooks. Picture: Facebook

“I check every time I’m there, if there’s no chicken I get a voucher even if I wasn’t going to buy one,” one member of the group said.

“They (Coles) ask if you can wait, but you say no and they give a voucher,” another recommended. “I also run around the shop telling everyone to go score a free chook.”

There has, however, been some confusion about which stores offer the deal, if it’s available in Queensland and if it depends on an empty cabinet.

But a Coles spokeswoman said the policy, which was relaunched in March, was in place at every store across Australia.

“We know customers love to get their hands on our delicious hot roast chickens, so for customers who aren’t able to purchase one at the time they want within the period specified in-store, we can provide them with a voucher for a free hot roast chicken,” she said.

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