US team wings in to sort KFC hell
Crisis talks over chicken shortage
KFC chiefs from America have flown in for crisis talks with bosses over its chicken shortage.
Senior execs jetted in to London after two thirds of their 900 restaurants were forced to close, said to be costing the firm a six-figure sum daily.
Tons of chicken will go to waste amid “complete chaos” with new delivery partners DHL, industry sources warned yesterday.
Some 450 KFCs are still closed after running out of supplies. Disruption is set to continue for the rest of the week.
A KFC spokesman said: “We anticipate the number of closures will reduce today and over the coming days as our teams work flat out all hours to clear the backlog.
“Each day more deliveries are being made.”
KFC fans started complaining of restaurants running out of ingredients including chicken and fries late last week. The shortages were blamed on “teething problems” after switching distributors.
But it is claimed KFC, which has 24,000 UK workers, was warned by the GMB union last October that switching from Bidvest Logistics to DHL could cause supply problems.
While Bidvest supplies food from six warehouses across the country, DHL only has one warehouse dealing with the chicken supply. Mick Rix, GMB’s national officer, said insiders claimed DHL was in a “real mess” at its Warwickshire depot.
John Boulter, of DHL, promised they were making “step by step improvements” to help stores reopen.
Meanwhile, police in Tower Hamlets, East London, asked KFC fans to stop contacting them.
They tweeted: “It is not a police matter if your favourite eatery is not serving the menu that you desire.”