Colonel Sanders chicken has become a Kiwi favorite, so how much do we spend at KFC? Video / NZ Herald
A former KFC worker has explained why your local branch might run out of fried chicken and revealed the deep impacts that customer abuse has on hard-working staff.
The revelations come after police were called to the Te Awamutu store earlier this week to settle a stoush over missing chicken, keeping the peace after a woman reportedly became verbally aggressive after being told that she wouldn’t receive her order - or a refund for three days.
The former worker, who worked for two years elsewhere in NZ, has spoken out in defence of her colleagues and explained why stores run out of chicken, pleading for customers to think before they unleash their frustration.
One common thread in the reaction online to the Te Awamutu incident was the number of New Zealanders who shared similar stories of orders unfulfilled, among other annoyances.
Readers from across the country wrote to claim that their local was “always running out”. So why does it happen?
“Simple supply and demand,” the former worker told the Herald.
She said that the chain’s use of fresh chicken means that a busy day’s trading can easily run stock low.
“It’s impossible to always accurately predict customer consumption. Some days we may have normal sales, others we may have a much higher demand than expected.
“We can’t pre-buy heaps of bulk chicken because it’s not frozen on site, it’s stored in a cooler. So it’s a matter of correctly calculating how much chicken we need and predicting future trends because over purchase results in wasted stock.”
The worker revealed why KFC can run low on chicken - and why staff can't tell you they have. Photo / Supplied
The Herald asked why staff didn’t try and source fresh chicken themselves in those situations.
“We can’t just nip over to the shop because we are not KFC big shots with the authority to make that kind of decision,” she said.
“KFC has a contract with the supplier of each of our ingredients, violating that could cause a lot of trouble.”
One source of frustration claimed by customers is that they often did not know that chicken was unavailable until they went into the store or reached the drive-thru.
Our tipster says that is by design.
“We are instructed by head office that we are not allowed to print and post any signs indicating we are out of chicken or other products even if we have run out. We aren’t allowed to, that’s why you never see signs warning people.”
The Herald asked KFC if this claim was correct. They offered no comment on that specific allegation but said in a statement: “The very nature of our business relies on serving fresh chicken to our customers. However, occasionally there are particularly busy times when demand exceeds our fresh supply. When this does happen, we ask our customers to please be patient and respect our team.”
‘I would never go back’
The ex-employee also opened up to the Herald about the devastating effect that customers could have on staff.
“I have held so many of my co-workers while they absolutely bawl their eyes out because a customer felt entitled to take their frustration out in ways that are just unnecessary,” she said, adding that staff are regularly targeted with racist comments that they are “deeply impacted by”.
“As a young woman working I’ve had grown men tell me I need to learn how to ‘do your f***ing job’ because they didn’t know how to read the menu and asked for something that doesn’t exist.
“I’ve had customers throw food at me through the window because ‘I wanted fast food’.”
She questioned whether disgruntled customers could cook a whole chicken meal at home in ten minutes.
“No? Then it’s fast food, isn’t it?” she said.
“I won’t even bother with the amount of abuse I got over customers wanting enough salt on their chips to induce a heart attack at any given time. I’ve been told I’m a servant because I work for KFC, which I assure you isn’t in our contracts.
“I lost count of the amount of times I have had to take and make orders with tears rolling down my face because of something a customer did or said.
