The encyclopaedia of gravy
In March 2018, KFC ran short of gravy across the United Kingdom, following the chicken supply crisis that had already closed hundreds of its restaurants.
In March 2018, KFC's United Kingdom restaurants ran short of gravy. Outlets that had closed during the chain's chicken supply crisis were reopening, but customers arriving at them faced a grievously dry dinner.
What happened¶
The gravy shortage came directly after, and on top of, a far larger failure. KFC had already been unable to supply chicken to large numbers of its British restaurants, forcing widespread temporary closures. As those restaurants came back online, gravy — a signature side, and for many customers the point of the visit — was the next item to run out.
Sky News reported the shortage under the headline that it was "not all gravy" for the chain.
Background¶
The underlying crisis began in February 2018, when KFC changed the company handling distribution to its UK restaurants. The switch to the new logistics arrangement went badly wrong almost immediately, and chicken stopped reaching outlets. At the height of the disruption the great majority of KFC's roughly 900 British restaurants were closed or operating a restricted menu.
The episode became a minor national news event, and the chain's printed apology — rearranging the letters of its own name to read "FCK" on an empty chicken bucket — is still cited as a case study in crisis communication.
The gravy shortage was the aftershock. Restaurants reopening on partial supply could serve chicken again before they could serve everything that normally goes with it.
📌 Note
The sequence matters. This was not a gravy manufacturing failure — the gravy existed. It was a distribution failure, in which a product that was perfectly sound could not be got to the places that needed it.
Why it resonated¶
A shortage of an accompaniment sounds trivial, and the coverage treated it with appropriate humour. But it demonstrated something real about how gravy functions in British eating: it is not optional. A chicken shop that cannot serve gravy is perceived as failing at the meal, not at a side dish.
The same instinct explains the quantities recommended throughout this site — see gravy for christmas dinner, which advises a minimum of 150 ml per person on the grounds that running out is the one outcome nobody forgives.