KFC Japan suspends French fry sales as global logistics breaks down

There’s nothing wrong with indulging in a little comfort food after a hard week at work or school, and no doubt the mouths of KFC fans were watering as they made their way to the chain’s branches in Japan last weekend. Unfortunately, many of them had to walk away with less than the full fried satisfaction they’d been hoping for when they saw this.
 

That’s a notice from KFC Japan saying that they’re out of French fries, and not in the sense of “We’ve got a batch in the fryer, but it’s not ready yet.” No, what the poster says is that the restaurant is entirely out of potatoes, and so it’s stopped selling French fries until it can get more, a process that’s going to take weeks.

Once again, the reason for this jarring roadblock to one of life’s simplest and purest forms of happiness is the coronavirus. The pandemic is continuing to cause problems for the shipping and logistics industries, and the disruption of the supply routes for KFC Japan’s potatoes, which the chain imports, forced the company to start suspending French fry sales starting last Friday.

The sudden disappearance of KFC’s fries has left a hole in the heart of fans, who’ve taken to Twitter to grieve together with comments like:

“It’s true. I went to KFC and they were all out.”

“I’m in shock.”

“This has got me surprisingly shaken up on an emotional level.”

“Crazy how many things are affected by the coronavirus.”

Not every KFC branch has suspended French fry sales, but without new shipments of potatoes coming in it’s probably more accurate to think of them as simply not having suspended them yet. KFC currently expects to be able to start selling French fries again on October 21, though even that golden light at end of the tunnel is tentative, and may vary by branch, the company says.