More bad news for KFC fans: A chicken shortage that has closed hundreds of stores in the UK could last all week.
The fast food chain was forced to shut restaurants across the country after a logistics snafu hit chicken deliveries.
As many as 800 of about 900 KFC locations were closed on Monday. About 450 remained closed by late afternoon local time on Tuesday.
"Each day more deliveries are being made, however, we expect the disruption to some restaurants to continue over the remainder of the week, meaning some will be closed and others operating with a reduced menu or shortened hours," a KFC spokesperson said in a statement emailed to CNN.
In a message posted on its UK Twitter account, KFC said "our teams are working round the cluck" to reopen all restaurants.
KFC, which is owned by Taco Bell and Pizza Hut parent Yum! (YUM), said the chicken shortage had been caused by a "couple of teething problems" after it switched to a new delivery partner, DHL (DPW), last week.
DHL said Monday that a number of deliveries had been "incomplete or delayed" because of "operational issues." The German company apologized again on Tuesday but added that it was "not the only party responsible for the supply chain to KFC."
"With the help of our partner QSL, we are committed to step by step improvements to allow KFC to re-open its stores over the coming days," DHL said in a statement.
QSL is a food logistics provider that has been working with KFC since 2011. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Colonel has an update...🐓🛣🚦
More info - https://t.co/mLELSs6TaY pic.twitter.com/WEOz6jExHC — KFC UK & Ireland (@KFC_UKI) February 19, 2018
The UK is KFC's largest market in Europe, and one of its top five globally.
Franchisees operate 95% of KFC's outlets in the country. The company said Monday that it would pay its staff as normal, and it was encouraging franchisees to do the same.
KFC did not say whether it would compensate its franchisee operators for lost business.
KFC fans have used social media to complain and express their amusement this week over a chicken restaurant running out of its signature product.
So KFC is closed due to having no chicken.. I feel like this is the beginning of the end of the world — kayleigh greenwood🤗 (@kayleigh_xxxxxx) February 19, 2018
-- CNN's Ivana Kottasová contributed to this report.
LONDON, KOMPAS.com - Jaringan restoran cepat saji Kentucky Fried Chicken ( KFC ) dikabarkan menutup separuh dari total 900 gerainya di Inggris. Penyebab tutupnya gerai restoran ayam goreng tersebut adalah pasokan ayam yang habis. Mengutip BBC , Selasa (20/2/2018), pada pekan lalu, KFC telah mengganti kontrak pengiriman kepada DHL. Inilah yang disinyalir oleh KFC sebagai biang keladi masalah operasional terkait pasokan ayam. Juru bicara KFC menyebutkan, belum jelas kapan masalah pengiriman ini akan selesai. Adapun para karyawan didorong untuk mengambil hari libur, namun kebijakan ini tidak dipaksakan. "Tim kami terus bekerja keras untuk kembali (beroperasi) sesegera mungkin. Namun, masih terlalu dini untuk menyatakan berapa lama permasalahan kekurangan (pasokan) ayam ini akan selesai," ujar juru bicara KFC.
Baca juga: Susi dan 100 Wanita Paling Berpengaruh di Dunia Versi BBC Hingga awal pekan lalu, ayam untuk kebutuhan KFC dikirim oleh perusahaan distribusi Bidvest milik seorang warga Afrika Selatan. Akan tetapi, setelah terjadi perubahan kontrak, banyak gerai KFC mengalami kekurangan pasokan ayam. KFC pun mengumumkan permasalahan tersebut melalui akun Twitter resminya. Menurut KFC, permasalahan terkait pengiriman ayam ini sangat kompleks. "Kami telah menghadirkan mitra pengiriman baru, namun mereka memiliki masalah. Membawa ayam segar ke 900 restoran di penjuru negeri (Inggris) adalah perkara kompleks!" kata KFC.
KFC pun tidak lupa disertai permintaan maaf kepada konsumen dalam cuitannya itu. Pihak DHL pun memberikan penjelasannya mengenai masalah dalam pengiriman pasokan ayam ke gerai-gerai KFC. Gangguan tersebut, kata pihak DHL, merupakan gangguan operasional yang segera diselesaikan. "Karena permasalahan operasional, banyak pengiriman dalam beberapa hari terakhir tertunda atau tidak selesai. Kami bekerja keras bersama mitra-mitra kami, KFC, dan QSL untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini, menjadikannya prioritas, dan memohon maaf atas ketidaknyamanan ini," tulis DHL. Namun, permasalahan ini sudah terlanjur membuat sejumlah konsumen marah dan kecewa. Mereka pun meluapkan kemarahannya pada media sosial.
There was panic on the streets of London as the 'KFC crisis' rolled into its fourth day, with more than half of its 900 UK stores closed due to a chicken shortage.
Frustrated chicken lovers resorted to contacting their MPs and calling the police, who warned "fried chicken is not a police matter".
Staff keen to get back to work reportedly took matters into their own hands, and KFC told The Telegraph it is "urgently investigating" an incident in Kent where workers were seen smuggling what looked like meat from the local butcher into the back door of the premises. The chain is also looking into reports that staff members in West London approached a local butcher to ask for all their chicken stock.
The fried chicken company has said it has strict food safety policies in place, and staff should not be taking chicken from local butchers.
The shortage appears to be indefinite, as the company said it is unclear when the supply issue will be resolved.
The chain switched its delivery contract from South African-owned distribution group Bidvest, which describes itself as "the leading supplier of logistical and supply chain solutions to the UK hospitality and restaurant sector", to DHL last week, which blamed "operational issues" for the disruption. Workers have been encouraged to take holiday until stores re-open.
The fast food chain KFC was warned it would face delivery problems months ago, it has been claimed, as the company tries to grapple with a worsening chicken supply crisis that has forced most of its outlets to remain closed.
About 420 KFC stores are currently shut after the company switched deliveries to a cheaper service, amid mounting consumer anger. An updated list showed that the number of open outlets rose to 450 by Tuesday afternoon after dropping to just 254. And for a second day KFC gave no indication of when operations would be back to normal.
Police in Tower Hamlets, east London, urged the public not to waste officers’ time by complaining about closed KFC stores.
Tower Hamlets MPS (@MPSTowerHam) 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.
The GMB union said it had expressed major doubts about KFC’s decision last October to switch its deliveries from the food delivery specialists Bidvest Logistics to DHL.
Mick Rix, the GMB’s national officer, said he told KFC that it could face a repeat of supply problems that had hit Burger King when it ditched Bidvest Logistics in favour of DHL six years ago.
He said: “We warned them a few months ago. I wrote to KFC. I alluded to Burger King trying to cut costs and ending up with poorer quality service and poorer distribution. They had shortages, too, but not on the scale we’re seeing now at KFC. Within six months they [Burger King] were pleading with Bidvest Logistics to take it back.”
Rix claimed KFC’s current crisis stemmed from dropping a supply system based on six warehouses run by Bidvest to a system of one distribution centre in Rugby run by DHL. He said conditions at the Rugby warehouse were “an utter shambles”.
Rix added: “They took a lower tender with a load of promises that have not materialised. The system can’t cope. My sources say KFC execs knew three weeks ago that there was a major problem with DHL. They were concerned about the set-up and the systems after testing. And some of the answers from DHL were completely strange and worrying. It was clear it was going to fall flat on its face.”
He urged KFC to go back to Bidvest to help resolve the problem, despite its decision to make 255 staff redundant since losing the KFC contract.
Speaking en route to a meeting with Bidvest at its offices in Banbury, Rix said: “We’ve never had redundancies at Bidvest before on this scale. Some of those staff would come back. It is the only way of resolving the problem.”
He added: “DHL will not be able to provide the service they quoted for. Even if industry experts piled into that depot now to sort out the mess at Rugby, it would take weeks and even months to sort the problems out.”
“We think that with the dedicated professionals that are already there at Bidvest and with new people and new vehicles, you could have a good operation up and running within a couple of weeks.”
A KFC spokesperson said: “We feel for those who lost their jobs at Bidvest; the decision to change supplier wasn’t taken lightly. DHL have estimated that winning the KFC contract and opening the new distribution centre has created 300 new jobs.”
Malory Davies, editor of the trade journal Logistics Manager, said KFC would have to resolve the crisis within days. “Frankly, KFC can’t afford for it to go on for more than a few days. They have a whole load of franchisees who will be getting very angry,” he said.
Davies added: “This one is going to be a case study for business schools for years to come, it is really major. It is entirely possible to service the UK market from one warehouse – lots of people do it – but a contract of this size would be more of a challenge.”
The technology analyst Chris Green said DHL and its software partner, Quick Service Logistics, appeared to have failed to properly match up data from KFC’s ordering process to its new system.
He said: “If you were one of KFC’s 750 franchisees you could order your replacement chicken and other supplies and usually within about 24 hours a lorry from Bidvest would appear outside your store with what you needed. The stores were used to that kind of just-in-time ordering, and that’s what’s caught them out.
“It is doing huge brand damage to KFC. The franchisee can’t go off and buy chicken from a wholesaler. Their contracts with KFC prevents them from going to third parties. And KFC can’t put its name on chicken it didn’t supply. The franchisee and KFC have both got both hands tied behind their backs.”
