Over 600 KFC Restaurants in the UK Are Closed Due to Chicken Supply Issues

Fast-food fried chicken chain KFC has been forced to temporarily close the majority of its 900 restaurants and takeaways in the UK and Ireland because of “teething problems” with its newly appointed delivery partner and logistics specialists, DHL.

On Saturday the company announced that the “company had “brought a new delivery company on board, but they’ve had a few teething problems.” Delivering fresh chicken to the 900 KFC branches “across the country is pretty complex!” it added.

As of 13.20 this lunchtime, 292 branches were open and KFC says its teams are working “round the cluck” to get “the rest back up and running again as soon as possible.” A special page has been set up to announce which branches have reopened.

Staff across the country appear to be doing all they can in a bid to reopen the restaurants. Kent Live published footage captured at a branch in Kent with workers “smuggling raw chicken” into a back door of a KFC branch. In the video, the user can be heard taunting the staff, who are unloading what appears to be boxes of chicken from a Volvo, saying “that’s health and safety down the drain isn’t it, mate?”

DHL won the KFC contract, replacing Bidvest Logistics, four months ago. Today DHL apologised for the delivery blunder, saying: “Due to operational issues a number of deliveries in recent days have been incomplete or delayed. We are working with our partners to rectify the situation as a priority and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

On winning the contract, a DHL spokesperson promised, rather ironically, that the company would set “a new industry benchmark by delivering outstanding service to all KFC’s restaurants and its consumers.”

”We intend to re-write the rule book and create a stock management, distribution,” they said.