"The chicken crossed the road, just not to our restaurants."
So said an announcement Saturday that tried to find humor in KFC's chicken shortage, which has prompted the fast-food chain to temporarily close hundreds of its restaurants in the United Kingdom. KFC said the shortage was caused by "a couple of teething problems" with its new delivery partner, DHL.
"We know that this might have inconvenienced some of you over the last few days, and disappoint you when you wanted your fried chicken fix - we're really sorry about that," KFC said Saturday. "Shout out to our restaurant teams who are working flat out to get us back up and running again."
As of Monday (Feb. 19), about 300 of KFC's 900 locations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are open, according to a list on KFC's website. Some restaurants are operating on a limited menu or shortened hours. It remains unclear when all restaurants will be open.
DHL said that a number of its deliveries had been "incomplete or delayed" because of operational issues, CNN Money reported.
The mishap came just months after KFC partnered with DHL as part of the fast-food chain's ambition to "revolutionize" the food service distribution market in the United Kingdom. A news release from October said DHL will manage KFC's warehouse and distribution service, with a "greater focus on innovation, quality and service performance" and a promise to "provide a faster turnaround of orders."