KENTUCKY FRIED CATASTROPHE
++Hundreds of branches still shut++Tons of chicken to be dumped++Depot doesn’t have storage licence
HUGE quantities of chicken will have to be destroyed as a result of the delivery chaos that has shut hundreds of KFC restaurants.
The crisis is a financial disaster for the company and has angered customers, with some people even contacting the police.
The problems were caused by a collapse in the computer ordering system at KFC’s new delivery company, DHL, sending shipments of chicken to its 900 branches into meltdown over the weekend. At one stage more than 600 were shut.
Now images have emerged of a large number of green trays filled with KFC chicken which will have to be destroyed.
The pictures were taken at a warehouse in Rugby, Warwickshire, run by DHL which took over KFC’s multi-million pound delivery contract last week.
And in a new twist to the scandal, the Daily Mail has learned the warehouse does not even have the basic authorisation needed to operate as a cold storage facility. The local council has sent in a team of environmental health officers who have the power to order KFC to dispose of any meat on the premises that is not being properly stored.
KFC said it does not yet know how much chicken will have to be destroyed, but it was doing everything possible to avoid wastage. Being unable to get chicken to its branches has made KFC a laughing stock. However, some people became so distressed they contacted police. In Tower Hamlets, east London, police responded with the tweet: ‘ 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.’
As well as being a disaster for the business, which normally sells 14million pieces of chicken worth around £20million every week, the problems are a hammer blow to KFC franchisees who run 80 per cent of outlets and together are losing sales of more than £1million a day.
The crisis is even more of a problem for thousands of staff employed by franchisees on short term or zero hours contracts, some of whom have lost shifts and pay. KFC said staff in restaurants owned by the chain would be paid.
The Rugby warehouse is the delivery hub for all KFC chicken in the UK. But Rugby Borough Council confirmed that it is not registered to operate as a cold storage facility.
Last night KFC said DHL is in the process of applying for a cold storage licence. It is not
‘Doing everything to avoid wastage’
clear if a warehouse can start handling meat and operating as a cold store before such a licence has been issued.
The KFC crisis has created problems for British chicken producers and processors. Its main suppliers, Moy Park and 2 Sisters, have been told to call a temporary halt to shipments.
The British Poultry Council said the millions of pieces of chicken from British farmers and processors that should have gone to KFC are being diverted to other customers. Fleets of trucks and lorries were moving to and from the Rugby warehouse yesterday as workers raced to arrange deliveries.
KFC chicken is also imported from Thailand, Brazil and the Continent. There have been long queues of lorries bringing this meat into the Rugby warehouse over the past week, but it has been left on pallets rather than shipped to restaurants.
KFC said branch closures were reducing but some would stay shut or have a reduced menu or shorter opening hours for the rest of the week.
The computer delivery system which has failed was developed by a company called QSL in partnership with DHL which apologised to KFC customers and said it was working to get branches re- opened over the coming days.
The GMB union claimed it warned KFC against switching away from delivery company Bidvest Logistics – and a supply system based on six warehouses – to DHL. National officer Mick Rix said he told KFC it could face a repeat of supply problems that hit Burger King when it dropped Bidvest in favour of DHL six years ago.