Fast-food giants KFC were running low on chicken and people had been clucking about it online – but there’s no reason to suspect foul play.
Branches from Devon to Berkshire, Suffolk, Newcastle and Surrey experienced a dearth of KFC’s special brand of chicken goodness on Thursday, (February 15).
In Plymouth, one employee confirmed the Crownhill KFC had shut while another worker said KFC branches ‘all over the city‘ had been affected.
Yet today, (February 23), KFC released a statement saying:
90 per cent of our restaurants are now open and we can confirm the backlog of fresh chicken stock at the depot is now cleared.
However, due to the ongoing distribution challenges DHL is experiencing, disruption to some restaurants may continue through the weekend, which means some will not be open and others will operate with a reduced menu or shortened hours.
We’re immensely grateful to our amazing team members and franchise partners who continue to work flat out to get back up and running.
The news has been more than welcomed and folk across the country have taken to Twitter to express their delight:
It seems KFC have not only been gracing our social media timelines, but our papers too.
The beloved fast-food chain, in a stroke of PR genius, apologised once more to it’s customers, by taking out a full page add in a newspaper.
As one man tweeted, it’s ‘a masterclass in PR crisis management:
Initially, apologies were written to the ‘hangry’ customers on every closed KFC store up and down the land.
The chicken shortage was explained on signs like the one below:
The sign on the door reads:
We deliver our chicken fresh into our restaurants, but we’ve had a few hiccups with the delivery today.
Naturally, KFC’s loyal customers wanted their chicken but with the fresh chicken shortage due to a technical fault, KFC rather admirably weren’t willing to sell bad chicken to their fans.
A spokesperson told UNILAD:
We’re not far away from robots taking over the world, NASA even have a plan for when it happens, but until they do unfortunately computer systems can still go wrong… which ours did.
We hope to be back up and running before we have to wheel in Will Smith to sort things out, please bear with us.
They assured UNILAD they were doubling down (sorry) on the problem:
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Essentially, a new computer system organising the delivery of fresh chicken to your local KFC was going through ‘teething problems’, so the fried chicken connoisseurs opted to cut their losses rather than give us, the paying customers, bad chicken.
While it was a tough time for those of us who craved the popcorn pieces and secret recipe special blend of spices – and were left salivating at the thought – KFC has some good news!
The delivery issues have been ironed out and the chicken stocks replenished.
It’ll be chicken tonight, everyone!
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.