CHICKEN RETURNS
Celina Lowe decided to drive more than 35 minutes to feed her potato and gravy craving, only to be disappointed when she got to the KFC drive-through.
The New Plymouth fast-food store was temporarily closed due to the boil water notice issued in Taranaki following the state of emergency, leaving wicked wing, 11 herbs and spices and potato and gravy lovers in a state of panic.
‘‘I came from Stratford to get K-Fry,’’ Lowe said on Monday evening. ‘‘I really wanted some potato and gravy.’’
The store re-opened at midday yesterday, after New Plymouth KFC lovers had been denied their cravings for almost a week.
Lowe certainly wasn’t the only one missing out.
Almost a car a minute pulled into the New Plymouth KFC drivethrough or car park on Monday evening, with the masses having no choice but to drive away empty handed.
Most were sad and disappointed but just had to go without.
Cassandra Herlihy and her partner had decided to go to KFC because it was his birthday.
Herlihy said she was ‘‘very’’ disappointed because KFC was one of her partner’s favourite places to eat, but said they’d have to just settle for another fast-food restaurant.
KFC New Zealand general manager Jason McMenamin said they had made the decision to close the store’s doors last Wednesday because of the boil water notice issued by the New Plymouth District Council after a tree smashed into a water pipe during ex-cyclone Gita.
‘‘The amount of water we need in our kitchen and our strict food safety procedures meant it wasn’t feasible to try to boil enough water to meet our needs.’’
McMenamin said they had managed to find a temporary solution to boil enough water for cooking and food safety processes to allow the store to re-open at midday on Tuesday.
The full menu is on offer but non-bottled soft drinks, coffee and ice are unavailable until the normal water supply is restored.
The boil water notice in New Plymouth is said to stand for another week.
McDonald’s New Plymouth stayed open through the water crisis in New Plymouth but wasn’t able to offer its usual drink range, McDonald’s Restaurants New Zealand head of communications Simon Kenny said.
‘‘While we can’t offer the usual range of beverages through our machines, we have shipped in a selection of canned drinks and bottled water. Once the boiled water notice has been lifted we will be able to go back to the usual range of drinks.’’
The Ha¯ wera KFC, an hour away from New Plymouth, was unaffected by the boil water notice and running the entire time.