THE Falmouth branch of KFC has been forced to close, along with another 749 outlets, over problems with the company's new supplier.

The problems have occurred because the fried chicken chain has recently switched its suppliers to DHL which has blamed operational issues for the problem.

Some deliveries are now getting through but more branches could close as they still do not have enough chickens to be fully operational. It is not clear when the problem will be resolved.

The Packet contacted the Falmouth branch to find out what was happening but when informed who we were, someone on the end of the phone said: "No comment" and put the phone down.

A spokesman told the BBC that staff were being encouraged to take a holiday but could not be forced to do so.

They said that in the restaurants owned by the chain, team members on short-term contracts would be paid the average hours worked per day over the past 12 weeks, while employees on salaries would be paid as normal.

However, 80% of KFC outlets are run on a franchise basis.

Posting on Twitter the company said the chicken had crossed the road, but not for their restaurants and said they were doing everything they could to clear the backlog.

They have set up a special website at kfc.co.uk/crossed-the-road to let customers know which restaurants are still open saying: "The colonel is working on it...

"We’ve brought a new delivery partner onboard, 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.

"We know that this might have inconvenienced some of you over the last few days, and disappointed you when you wanted your fried chicken fix - we’re really sorry about that.

"Shout out to our restaurant teams who are working flat out to get us back up and running again.

"Hope to see you in our restaurants soon."

The company had previously employed South African food supply giant Bidvest but DHL had taken over last week.

DHL said in a statement: "Due to operational issues, a number of deliveries in recent days have been incomplete or delayed. We are working with our partners, KFC and QSL, to rectify the situation as a priority and apologise for any inconvenience."