UK Police Department: Don’t Call Us Just Because KFC Ran Out of Chicken

UK Police Department: Don’t Call Us Just Because KFC Ran Out of Chicken
People look into a branch of KFC that is closed due to problems with the delivery of chicken on Feb. 20, 2018, in Bristol, England. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Petr Svab
2/20/2018
Updated:
10/5/2018

After KFC ran out of chicken and closed more than half of its 900 restaurants across the United Kingdom, a London police department has asked people not to report the gastronomical inconvenience as an emergency worthy of police attention.

“Please do not contact us about the #KFCCrisis,” tweeted the Metropolitan Police Service for the London East End Borough of Tower Hamlets, using the popular hashtag.

“[I]t is not a police matter if your favourite eatery is not serving the menu that you desire.”

Many Britons craving the fried treat stood disappointed in front of the fast-food eateries’ closed doors, while the company announced it ran into “a couple of teething problems” with its new delivery partner.

“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!” the company stated on Twitter on Feb. 17. “We won’t compromise on quality, so no deliveries has meant some of our restaurants are closed, and others are operating a limited menu or shortened hours.”
“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—we’re really sorry about that,” KFC stated on its website.

On Feb. 20, KFC tweeted: “Good news, over half of our restaurants are now back open! Our teams are working flat out to open the rest.”

The company provided a website where customers can check if their preferred restaurant is open.
KFC has recently switched its delivery company, Bidvest, for DHL and German group QSL. So far the change hasn’t gone smoothly.
“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,” said technology analyst Chris Green, according to the Guardian.

“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.”

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