KFC ran out of chicken -or as Burger King tweeted “chickened out”- and people would not have it.
The shortage was caused by a change in the delivery contractor. On the 14th of February, KFC switched from Bidvest Logistics to DHL.
As an article from The Guardian mentions, the franchise was warned against the change by GMB, the union which represents Bidvest Logistics. The same problem in delivery affected other brands such as Burger King a few years ago.
Why change then? The reason behind it is mostly economical, DHL provides a cheaper service. This decision also affected workers at Bidvest Logistics, resulting in 255 job losses.
In addition to that, more than two thirds out of 900 KFC chains have been closed, with the open ones only offering a restricted menu.
But what happened to the meat? Apparently all the poultry was stored in a warehouse in Rugby, Warwickshire. Although DHL did not need to have a licence to store fresh chicken, they should have registered with the council and have gone through inspections.
The council found out only through the media that the warehouse was in fact used as a cold-storage and consequently closed it provisionally for inspections.
Other issues arise from this, as obviously not all the fresh meat can still be used and most of it would go to waste. One of the options considered by KFC is to donate to charities, which is not happening as most charities cannot accept fresh meat and not out of date food, especially without further inspections.
Most of the rage, although, comes from the customers who couldn’t put their hands on fried chicken for the past week, apparently unaware of the hundreds of chicken shops in and out of cities. People couldn’t deal with the #KFCCrisis, resolving to complain on social media and in the worst cases calling the police.
Most of them wondered if KFC could have solved the problem quicker through other alternatives. The franchise has been clear that they were still putting quality of food first and that was the reason it was taking them a long time to fix the problem with their contractor, all the way blaming DHL.
My question is, could KFC have avoided the problem altogether by listening to GMB and keeping their previous contractors? Even if it meant a more expensive service. But after all, are they not more concerned about quality rather than profit?

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