KFC ran out of chicken in the UK after a botched switch of delivery partners

In February 2018, KFC's UK business — its largest market in Europe — switched its chicken delivery contract from the logistics firm Bidvest to DHL. The transition went badly wrong. DHL's distribution network was not ready, and within days KFC restaurants across Britain began running out of chicken. With no product to sell, the chain was forced to temporarily close hundreds of its roughly 900 UK outlets.

For a fried-chicken chain, running out of chicken was both a logistical disaster and a PR crisis, and customers took to social media to complain (and joke). The shortage made national news. KFC's response, though, became the most remembered part of the episode: it took out full-page adverts in British newspapers showing an empty chicken bucket with the letters rearranged to read 'FCK' — a frank, humorous apology that acknowledged the absurdity of the situation and promised to put it right.

The 'FCK' ad was widely praised as a masterclass in crisis communication — honest, self-aware, and on-brand, it defused the anger and even won admiration. The restaurants reopened as DHL got the deliveries moving. The episode is now cited as a case study in two opposite lessons: how a poorly managed operational change (a supply-chain switch) can shut down a business, and how a candid, human response can turn a fiasco into a brand-building moment.