However, even if it is possible to use a single warehouse, Samir Dani, professor of logistics and supply chain management at the University of Huddersfield's Business School, thinks that it isn't always appropriate to do so. "Companies may operate out of one warehouse, but you have to think about the product. There are legality issues around the quality of the produce and the contamination that can happen is not handled properly. That's the problem with food, distribution can't be thought about like any other supply chain."
The causes
The lack of chicken began to hit on February 16. KFCs started to shut down locations in response to their missing ingredients, meaning that by February 18, only 266 of the 870 restaurants in the UK and Ireland were open. Locations in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have not been affected due to different logistical arrangements.
Dani says the cause of the crisis which shut over two thirds of KFC's locations will be debated for a long time to come, but believes the decision to use the single depot didn't help matters. "Serving the length and breadth of the country from one warehouse is a complex task anyway. The fact that it was a new warehouse, new IT system, and the handover was just happening, makes this a perfect storm."
But the full cause of the great chicken crisis is more complex. "Using a single location will not be the lone cause of this particular problem at all," says Wilding. "There will have been a number of elements which have come together. Demand, automation in the facility, the planning software, all those sorts of things interacting together. There may be a particular cause which will come out of this, but pinpointing that may be a tricky thing."
Dani thinks poor preparation may also be to blame. "It's a complex scenario, but I think it would mainly be the network planning. To send perishable products into the stores, you have to think about what kind of network you need, how many distribution centres? I think that planning may have had a failing of some kind. The IT systems may not have had the right checks before going live, if so, what were the contingency measures in those circ*mstances?" In a supply chain, he continues, disruption can happen for lots of reasons, but in the case of KFC a number of things have seemingly gone wrong at once.
While some KFC locations in the UK remain closed, others have been serving from a "limited menu"Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Dealing with disruption
Disruption is fairly common in supply chains. Wilding says that approximately ten per cent of chains experience disruption during a year. Normally these aren't noticeable because only a small number of locations or a certain item would be affected. But in KFC's case, with its specialised menu and single warehouse, the problem was much larger, and quickly noticed by customers.
In terms of returning to normality, Wilding says there are a few separate questions to consider. "How long will customers still be noticing the disruption? Probably for another few days. However, the overall disruption to the whole network, including the chicken farms and so on, that's going to go on for a longer period of time. Then you've got to ask how long it's going to take for KFC to rebuild confidence with its customer base."
