KFC falls fowl in Britain with chicken run

– ‘Bird-brained’ –

The crisis erupted over the weekend when KFC switched its delivery contract to DHL from South African-owned supplier Bidvest.

“We’ve brought a new delivery partner onboard, but they’ve had a couple of teething problems — getting fresh chicken out to 900 restaurants across the country is pretty complex,” KFC said.

“We know that this might have inconvenienced some of you over the last few days, and disappointed you when you wanted your fried chicken fix,” the company added.

Police have asked the public to stop calling 999 over KFC running out of chicken and closing stores; why are people so obsessed? pic.twitter.com/otzUIz9te7

— LBC (@LBC) February 21, 2018

The GMB trade union said earlier that the closures were the result of KFC’s “bird-brained” decision to switch supplier, saying it had caused 255 redundancies and the closure of a Bidvest depot.

“We tried to warn KFC this decision would have consequences — well now the chickens are coming home to roost,” GMB’s national officer Mick Rix wrote.

“Bidvest are specialists — a food distribution firm with years of experience; DHL are scratching around for any work they can get to undercut them,” he said.

With some customers apparently suffering withdrawal symptoms, one London police department tweeted: “Please do not contact us about the #KFCcrisis — it is not a police matter if your favourite eatery is not serving the menu that you desire.”

DHL’s managing director of retail, John Boulter, said the delivery firm was working to “return to normal service levels as soon as possible.

“The reasons for this unforeseen interruption of this complex service are being worked on,” he added, although he did not give the exact reason for the problem.

“We are committed to step-by-step improvements to allow KFC to reopen its stores over the coming days.”