Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek. 

Fast food relies on the speedy part.

It also relies on the food part.

Things can go wrong. 

As I recently mentioned, McDonald's claims it has a real health problem with some of its restaurants and can't guarantee the food is safe.

Now KFC has made an even more troubling admission. 

It's run out of chicken.

The majority of KFC's restaurants in the UK were closed on Monday because, well, the chain appears to have cluckolded by its supply systems. 

Last year, the company partnered with logistics provider DHL and previous partner Quick Service Logistics to, it hoped, improve supplies of, well, chicken. (And, one imagines, improve costs.)

It seems that the delivery systems have suffered, in KFC's words, "a couple of teething problems."

The problem is that customers can't get their teeth into any chicken.

And DHL has resorted to one of the favored excuses of airlines. Operational issues.

"Due to operational issues a number of deliveries in recent days have been incomplete or delayed," said the company.

To give some sense of scale it appears that out of around 900 KFCs in the UK and Ireland, a mere 170 are blessed with, well, chicken. 

The rest would only be able to serve Kentucky Fried Thin Air.

The chickenless heads of KFC, owned by Yum Brands, tried to make light of its problems.

Sometimes, those who work to ensure systems work can be ignored. 

There's an assumption that everything will work. 

In this case, however, KFC has a significant issue.

This being the UK, some tried to make light of the heavy burden.

Some, though, were clearly struggling. 

At the time of writing, it was unclear when KF would again become KFC.

Some customers have even resorted to calling, oh, the police to complain.

I wonder if those who are learning to live without will ever go back.

Oh, what am I saying, of course they will.

Meanwhile, KFC is still laughing. Publicly, that is.

But spare a thought for some of the employees who, it seems, may not get paid for these lost days at all. 

Published on: Feb 19, 2018
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
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