It’s a story that seems redolent of a dreary bygone era in British history. The United Kingdom is in the throes of “an ongoing chicken shortage.” The shortage is attributed by someone who isn’t feeling the pain to “a hiccup in the supply chain.” The shortage is serious. It has closed the doors at half the KFC outlets in the country f/k/a Great Britain.
They have a crisis on their hands. So many people contacted London’s Metropolitan Police Force about the chicken shortage that officers have taken to Twitter to advise that the KFC shutdown is not — repeat not — a public safety emergency. That’s easy for the police to say, of course, especially if they aren’t craving something with the Colonel’s secret recipe.
Ed Driscoll links to the Metro report by Adam Smith: “Frustrated police officers in Tower Hamlets tweeted today: ‘Please do not contact us about the #KFCCrisis – it is not a police matter if your favourite eatery is not serving the menu that you desire.’ Over 2,700 people have shared the tweet to help spread the message so the boys in blue can concentrate fighting crime instead of dealing with poultry problems.”
Please do not contact us about the #KFCCrisis – it is not a police matter if your favourite eatery is not serving the menu that you desire.
— Tower Hamlets MPS (@MPSTowerHam) February 20, 2018
Smith may betray one of his literary influences in this observation: “The fear and loathing caused by KFC running out of chicken has caught everyone by surprise with even MPs getting calls asking them to help get everyone finger-licking again.”
UPDATE: A reader advises that the crisis derives from KFC’s (poor) decision to change its distributor, and there is substantial support for the proposition in the related journalism. It seems to me like a New Coke kind of moment that might have been cooked up by someone in marketing who is crazy like a fox in the chicken coop. Our reader also forwards Matt’s “gentle skewering” of KFC from the Telegraph (above).
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