Several branches of KFC were closed last week following disrupted deliveries to its UK stores, reports Supply Management.

Last week the fast food chain switched suppliers from Bidvest to DHL, with logistics operator QSL controlling demand planning and stock management.

Andrew Black, principal at Efficio, is quoted as saying:

I think what’s likely to have happened here is that KFC has switched to DHL on the back of presumably a more compelling commercial offer, without going through the proper testing or making sure they have the proper capacity to ensure they [DHL] can deal with the volume required. I can envisage here that they probably did a very simple calculation where they said, ‘We need X volume of birds a day and we have a certain number of trucks that can meet that requirement’, but the supply chain is much more complex than just distribution. What needs to be done now is DHL has to do some proper analysis of the capacity requirements and get a clearer understanding of what KFC’s end-to-end supply chain looks like or KFC will have to go back to their original delivery partner.

To read the full story, visit the Supply Management website.