Disaster has struck for fried chicken fans as KFC restaurants up and down the UK have been forced to close due to a lack of…chicken.
What a cockup
As humorous as the memes and good-natured social media posts have been, running out of their main ingredient is undeniably a big embarrassment for KFC.
The situation raises the issue of the importance of carrying out effective due diligence on potential new suppliers as well as the vital role supply chains play in the smooth operation of businesses.
The shortage is being blamed on the delivery giant DHL.
The company itself has said that administration issues have resulted in delayed and not completed deliveries.
Counting your chickens
In the four months up to them being awarded the delivery contract, DHL said that it would ‘set a new delivery standard’ for KFC.
“We’ve brought a new delivery partner on board, but they’ve had a couple of teething problems — getting fresh chicken out to 900 restaurants across the country is pretty complex. We won’t compromise on quality, so no deliveries has meant some of our restaurants are closed and others are operating a limited menu, or shortened hours,” said KFC in a statement.
The chickens have come home to roost
The financial impact to KFC is likely to be high with 600 out of 900 restaurants closed for several days resulting in a loss of sales.
Reputationally, the company, is unlikely to suffer too badly as it has created a groundswell of support thanks to its excellent efforts on social media and customer engagement.
With modern businesses relying on supply chains for the smooth running of their operations, the importance to ensure potential and current partners are legitimate and reliable is vital.
As quoted by the BBC, the GMB union said it had tried to warn KFC that switching from Bidvest to DHL was a mistake. The change led to 255 job losses and the closure of a Bidvest depot, said Mick Rix, GMB national officer.
He said: “Bidvest are specialists — a food distribution firm with years of experience. DHL are scratching around for any work they can get, and undercut them.
“KFC are left with hundreds of restaurants closed while DHL try and run the whole operation out of one distribution centre. Three weeks ago, KFC knew they had made a terrible mistake, but by then it was too late.”
The KFC ‘incident’ is an example of what happens when a part of the supply chain goes wrong, but it should also act as a warning to other businesses of their potential vulnerability.
Cybersecurity and the supply chain
In the instance of cybersecurity imagine if a vital supply chain partner is breached or knocked out of action as a result of a cyber attack the consequences can result in massive disruption to business operations.
Poor cybersecurity in a supplier could give a hacker a way into the wider organisation and let them wreak havoc.
Hackers are able to exploit any weakness in a supply chain, often choosing to target the smaller and often less secure members to use them as a way into the larger businesses in the chain. This is what happened in the infamous Target breach of 2013.
Hackers breached Target’s network by stealing credentials from a 3rd party heating company which had access to Targets networks to monitor their systems. The company fell victim to a spear phishing attack a few months before the main attack resulting in the hackers installing malware onto Targets point of sale systems resulting in the theft of customer credit card details.
Knowledge is power as the saying goes and when it comes to working with third parties its true. The more a company knows about who they are doing businesses, the better they can manage risks. Effective due diligence is vital to ensure that you’re not exposing yourself to unnecessary risks. According to a Reuters survey, just 62% of organisations carry out due diligence on their third party suppliers and partners.
CyberScore and the Supply Chain
XQ Cyber’s CyberScore helps quantify supply chain risks and allows you to offer support and guidance to third parties. It offers you a view of your supply chain exposure and presents guidance to support those companies that are most at risk. Running the scanner across your suppliers shows you if any suppliers are vulnerable and provides a security rating based on objective, empirical data.
Want to learn more about how XQ CyberScore can help secure your business? Visit our website at www.xqcyber.com/cyberscore and if you want to give yourself the very best protection against cyber security threats try our Cyber Score software for free now.
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