Hungry bargain hunters could be in for a shock tomorrow when they try to get their hands on one of KFC's weekly offers. For the fast food chain has admitted that it has had to 'pause' one of its special deals because of a shortage of chicken.
However KFC have stressed that the problem is only a temporary one to manage a recent supply issue, although they did not say what the supply issue was.
The affected deal, KFC's popular WOW Tuesday deal, offers nine pieces of chicken, along with a side order of beans and a can of Pepsi Max for £5.99. But as well as chicken on the bone, the fast food giant has also warned of shortages in supply of beans and cans of Pepsi Max in a memo reported to have been sent out to all restaurants.
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The update, which has been seen by The Sun, asks staff to remove the 'Tuesday Big Deal' banner from all branches, instead replacing it with adverts from a 'contingency folder' that include 'Family Feast' and 'Mighty Bucket for One' signs. The memo said: "Due to the shortage of COB (chicken on the bone), we are again pausing the WOW Tuesday offer. We will confirm our position for the remainder of the window once we have confirmed supply."
However, the memo said that the WOW offer would still be available on tills if restaurants had a sufficient supply of COB to "avoid as much guest dissatisfaction as possible", but said that customers would not be able to purchase the offer from kiosks or through mobile ordering. The memo said KFC staff would start to see "out of stock" across all depots over the past weekend regarding its bean supply and there was no fixed return date for the item at this time.
The problem had started in some branches last week, with disappointed KFC customers reporting on Moneysavngexpert.com that they had not been able to buy the Tuesday deal, but had been told they could buy it at full price. A link to the Tuesday deal on KFC's website leads to an empty page.
A KFC spokesperson said: "Recent supply chain challenges have meant some of our restaurants are facing a few shortages. We don't want our fans to miss out, so to ensure we can continue to serve around the clock, we've had to temporarily pause our Tuesday deal. Despite that, it's service as usual - all thanks to our incredible team members. They’re doing a brilliant job keeping the fryers going, so please be kind to them. To stress, this is a temporary measure to manage a recent supply issue and ensure we remain operating as usual."
It's not the first time the fast-food chicken chain has run out of popular menu items. Last year, it faced weeks of disruption because of food shortages. The chain also ran out of chicken in 2018 and was forced to close more than 600 branches across the UK. At the time, it blamed the lack of poultry on teething problems with new delivery firm DHL. It is not known what has caused the c=shortages this time.
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