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KFC closes hundreds of restaurants after running out of chicken

A Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket of mixed fried and grilled chicken (REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)
A Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket of mixed fried and grilled chicken (REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)

Hundreds of KFC stores across Britain remain closed after a delivery fiasco left them without chicken – and hungry fans spitting feathers.

The chain – famous for its family buckets – was forced to shut the majority of its restaurants over the weekend as a new delivery partner messed up orders.

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As of Monday morning, only about 200 eateries across the country were open out of the 900 stores in the franchise.

KFC said in a tweet: “The chicken crossed the road, just not to our restaurants…”

In an official statement, a spokesman for the Colonel added: “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.

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“We know that this might have inconvenienced some of you over the last few days, and disappointed you when you wanted your fried chicken fix – we’re really sorry about that.”

The corporate website lists the 200 or so restaurants that were open as of last night. KFC could provide no further details on when supplies would be delivered to the remainder or when customers could see their local KFC reopen.

Social media was swamped by bemused punters unable to get their fix of spicy wings or drumsticks.

One consumer told how she took her nine-year-old twin boys to a KFC drive-through in Luton, queued for 20 minutes to get to the serving window, only to be told there was no chicken.

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She then had to spend 20 minutes queuing to get out again.

Last week, KFC switched its delivery contract to DHL, which blamed “operational issues” for the supply disruption.

DHL said: “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.”