KFC reverts to Bidvest after supply disruption with DHL
QSL and DHL will revert the distribution contract for up to 350 UK restaurants back to Bidvest.
KFC has stripped parcel service DHL of some UK food deliveries, reverting to its former partner after a supply-chain breakdown shut hundreds of restaurants that ran out of chicken. The fast-food chain, owned by Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum! Brands Inc., handed some of the work back to former supplier Bidvest Logistics, part of South Africa’s Bid Corp.
KFC overhauled its UK chicken distribution chain in November by replacing Bidvest with DHL, a unit of Germany’s Deutsche Post AG that’s better known for deliveries to offices and homes. At the time, the new supplier said it was committed to setting an “industry benchmark” in service. The new arrangements hit a snag in February when DHL took over the work in partnership with another supply firm, QSL. The switch resulted in hundreds of KFC’s 900-plus UK restaurants being shut for several days.
“Our focus remains on ensuring our customers can enjoy our chicken without further disruption,” KFC said in a statement. “The decision has been taken in conjunction with QSL and DHL to revert the distribution contract for up to 350 of our restaurants in the north of the U.K. back to Bidvest Logistics.”
More than 97 percent of the U.K. restaurants are open again, though some are still operating with limited menus.
