Monday, KFC informed customers that they would be unable to serve their favourite fried chips due to a lack of stock.
The company, known for selling distinctive fried chicken and French fries known locally as chips, announced alternative meals it is now offering Kenyans while promising to restock as soon as possible.
The CEO also revealed that the stock ran out due to a hiccup in the global supply of potatoes.
He mentioned that the Covid pandemic has caused shipping delays and that efforts to restock are underway.
“Ships have been delayed for more than a month now, but we are working hard to restore as the first containers are arriving in the port today (Tuesday),” said CEO Theunissen.
This quickly developed into a debate on why the company had for many years imported frozen potatoes instead of procuring them from local farmers.
Some of the reasons included laws governing the procurement of KFC raw material to the quality of the potatoes required to make chips.
In an interview with a local daily, the company’s CEO for the East Africa region Jacques Theunissen, stated that they are unable to source local potatoes due to quality approval procedures.
“The reason we cannot buy local at the moment is all suppliers need to go through the global QA approval process and we cannot bypass that even if we run out to ensure that our food is safe for consumption by our customers.” He told Business Daily
The CEO also told the newspaper that the stock ran out due to a hiccup in the global supply of potatoes.
He mentioned that the Covid pandemic has caused shipping delays and that efforts are being made to restock.
“Ships have been delayed for more than a month, but we are working hard to restore service, with the first containers arriving in the port today (Tuesday),” Theunissen said.
The fast-food outlet imports most of its food products reportedly in a bid to give their customers across the world “same quality and taste” and to also “to keep up with international standards”.
They source their potatoes from Egypt which is one of the largest producers of the product globally.
