DISTRAUGHT consumers were forced to go to Burger King and McDonalds this week due to what could be described by some as a monumental ‘cock up’ when DHL failed to deliver the vital ingredients to the ‘finger lickin good’ restaurants.
In an embarrassing week that saw the Colonel well and truly ‘clucked off’ and customers spitting feathers when they could not get their chicken fix – we ask, what are the legal implications now the chicken coup dust is settling?
The blatantly obvious would be the alleged breach of contract in DHL failing to deliver the primary poultry product on which KFC so heavily rely. Only a week into their new contract DHL were apparently facing a logistical nightmare which allegedly led to the temporary closure of 900 KFC stores. As well as the short term damage which some analysts predict is likely to run into hundreds of thousands of pounds, there is the potential brand damage to KFC as it works hard to rebuild its reputation.
CHICKEN TIME
There are also the implications to KFC’s staff, many of whom are on zero hour contracts and may face loss of earnings as a result of their services not being needed this week. Union bosses have warned they will not tolerate the staff being out of pocket as a result of this affair.
The feathered fiasco is believed to have stemmed from a switch in supplier on 14th February from Bidvest to DHL. Bidvest have numerous distribution centres across the U.K. Whereas DHL only have one. A alleged failure in the order computer system is one of the major factors that contributed to the inevitable backlog. One could ask if this were not a case of putting all one’s eggs in one’s basket?
On a positive note reports came in that there were sightings of chickens dancing the funky chicken on farms up and down the country on hearing the news of their momentary reprieve.
Let us hope going forward that lessons have been learned in the chicken crisis that rocked the U.K. this week. In the meantime DHL may want to revisit their tagline and mission ‘Excellence. Simply delivered.’ I think the Colonel may argue the logistics company fell far short of excellence and ‘simply delivered’.
Why did the chicken cross the road? Because KFC was closed for business.
