KFC has closed hundreds of stores across the UK after a problem with its delivery partner resulted in a serious chicken shortage.
The fast food chain seemed to find the funny side, tweeting: “The chicken crossed the road, just not to our restaurants.”
On Sunday at 9pm less than one third of its restaurants - that’s just 263 of 900 branches - were open, according to the KFC website.
A statement from the food chain revealed: “We’ve brought a new delivery partner onboard, but they’ve had a couple of teething problems. Getting fresh chicken out to 900 restaurants across the country is pretty complex!
“We won’t compromise on quality, so no deliveries has meant some of our restaurants are closed, and others are operating a limited menu, or shortened hours.
“Shout out to our restaurant teams who are working flat out to get us back up and running.”
It has since come to light that courier company DHL is responsible for the error. A DHL spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “Due to operational issues a number of deliveries in recent days have been incomplete or delayed. We are working with KFC and our partners to rectify the situation as a priority and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
A spokesperson for KFC told HuffPost UK they’re hoping to release an updated statement later today, so keep your eyes peeled on Twitter. You can find out which stores are currently open here.
After news of the shortage broke, people took to social media to share their dismay at the store’s closures, including KFC staff. One employee tweeted: “Think about all of us people who have no job today and aren’t getting paid because of this.”
One thing’s for sure, when the stores reopen there’s going to be a rush on bargain buckets.