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KFC Goes Back to the Delivery Company it Ditched

The fast food giant has made a partial return to Bidvest, in a bid to get chickens to its restaurants

by Adam Coghlan
Fast Food Restaurants Remain Firm Favourites With UK Consumers
KFC has partially renewed its contract with logistics supplier, Bidvest
Matt Cardy/Getty Images

KFC has announced that it has partially renewed a contract it ended last month, with the logistics and delivery company, Bidvest following a disastrous and embarrassing attempt at a fresh start with DHL in the middle of February.

The company experienced a much publicised ordeal — referred to as “teething problems” — with its new supplier. It was forced to temporarily close, and limit the menu options at the vast majority of its 900 branches in the UK and Ireland throughout the second half of February.

KFC sent out material after DHL lost its chicken
KFC’s FCK apology advert
@A1GOY/Twitter

At the time, KFC announced, “Delivering fresh chicken to the 900 KFC branches “across the country is pretty complex!” It also forced the company to issue an expensive, very funny, public apology. But as of yesterday, a new contract between Bidvest and KFC was signed, which will see the company re-employed to deliver chicken to 350 restaurants in the north of the UK. Clearly enjoying its second chance, (and, one has to assume, a fairly strong bargaining position) Bidvest promised a “seamless return.”

KFC said that it would ease the pressure on the depot in Rugby, where DHL has been (trying to) co-ordinate the delivery efforts. The fast food company also confirmed that 97 percent of its restaurants across the country were now open, although some still with limited menus.

DHL replaced Bidvest Logistics five months ago. But yesterday evening, in a significant but seemingly necessary u-turn, the company confirmed that it had made at least a partial return to Bidvest.

During the “crisis,” DHL apologised for the 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.”

And yet, when DHL won the contract, a spokesperson for the company had said 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,” he added.

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