Nando’s, the restaurant chain famed for its peri-peri flavoured cuisine, has temporarily closed around 50 UK stores due to a shortage of their primary resource: chicken.
In an announcement on their Twitter, Nando’s UK said: “The UK supply chain is having a bit of a ‘mare right now. This is having a knock-on effect with some of our restaurants across England, Scotland and Wales. We are doing everything we can to get the peri-peri back where it belongs — on your plates.”
With the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and increased demand for restaurant dining this summer, both food outlets and suppliers have struggled to operate as usual.
To avoid disappointment, Nando’s have advocated for customers to check for local availability online before coming in-store. The closure of select Nando’s locations comes after rival fast-food chain KFC saw items removed from their menus because of a similar supply disruption.
The chicken supply issues follow warnings from Ranjit Singh Boparan, founder of 2 Sisters Food Group — the country’s biggest supplier of supermarket chicken. Ranjit claimed that the country’s supply of chicken and turkey is under threat because of labour shortages connected to Brexit and rising ingredient costs.
Currently, Nando’s has more than 400 restaurants across the UK, with their sales surpassing £1 billion in 2019.
