a staged rotisserie for cooking poultry includes a housing having an inlet end and an outlet end and a plurality of discrete heating stations spaced within the housing between the inlet end and the outlet end . a plurality of poultry spits are moved through the housing , each spit supporting a poultry thereon . an admission mechanism is provided for controlling admission of spits into the housing . an advancement and driving mechanism advances the spits through the housing in sequential fashion and drives the spits in rotation within the housing , and is operative to ensure that each spit resides within the housing for a pre - determined length of time to ensure that the poultry is properly cooked , thereby avoiding undercooking and overcooking .