KFC in twitter 'war' with Burger King over fries

Burger King quickly took advantage of a boycott call against KFC in Kenya by tweeting that they “have enough fries for everyone.”

Kenyans are calling on social media for a boycott of KFC for refusing to source local potatoes.

The revelation of Jacques Theunissen, KFC's local boss that deals with the covid 19 situation, that they hoped to resolve the shortage with a shipload of potatoes not coming from local farmers has caused the slogan #BoycottKFC to flourish on Twitter.

Theunissen explained that it’s KFC’s policy to let suppliers go through a global process to ensure product quality, which cannot be bypassed even if there is a shortage.

But critics pointed out that KFC did not specify the global quality and safety standards a potential supplier in Kenya should meet.

However, KFC had launched a project to source potatoes from Kenyan farmers, noting it was already doing so for other ingredients such as poultry, vegetables, flour, and ice cream.

National Potato Council of Kenya president Wachira Kaguongo said they are happy that KFC has rescinded their earlier stand on local supply of potatoes into their Kenyan outlets. Kaguongo added that KFC should consider creating synergies locally to allow them to source potatoes from Kenyan farmers.

KFC entered the Kenyan market in 2011 and has 35 outlets across East Africa.