Nando’s forced to close restaurants due to staff shortages in chicken supply chain

Nando’s has temporarily closed some restaurants due to staff shortages in the chicken supply chain.
The chain, which has branches all over the country, said it had sent some of its staff to work for its chicken suppliers in order to get supplies back to its restaurants. 
Staff shortages throughout the food supply chain have led to major chicken processors limiting the number of SKUs produced. Poultry businesses have average staff vacancy rates of 16% according to the British Poultry Council, due to a combination of coronavirus self-isolation requirements and Brexit leading EU nationals to return to their home countries.
Last week KFC said some items were missing from its menus due to “disruption” in the chicken supply chain.
A spokeswoman for Nando’s said: “The UK food industry has been experiencing disruption across its supply chain in recent weeks due to staff shortages and a number of our restaurants have been impacted. However, since Monday, a team of our brilliant Nandocas have been supporting our key suppliers onsite – working in partnership to help get things moving again, and this has already had a positive impact on affected restaurants. From this Saturday, as a result of the hard work behind the scenes, it is our intention that all of our restaurants will be open again, and all our customers can enjoy their favourite PERi-PERi chicken.”