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#ChickenSad: Jollibee to get items back on menu but 72 stores to close

By ROSE-AN JESSICA DIOQUINO, GMA News

(UPDATED 9:56 p.m.) No, this is not a "chicken emergency" but it's enough to temporarily close a number of Jollibee stores in Metro Manila and nearby areas.

The unavailability of some menu items at Jollibee, particularly its bestseller Chickenjoy, "is not a supply issue," an official of the company said Friday.

In a statement, Harvey Ong, Jollibee vice president for marketing, said the limited availability of Chickenjoy and other items "is not a supply issue or a chicken shortage situation," reiterating that it is due to "a major systems upgrade" they recently undertook.

Ong, however, admitted that the limited availability of products "has caused the temporary closure of 72 stores of various JFC (Jollibee Foods Corporation) brands" located in Metro Manila and nearby areas.

"Unfortunately, this change in system has initially affected the delivery schedule of raw materials from our commissary to select stores," he said.

Ong also disclosed that some of the affected stores "have already begun offering Jollibee favorites," including the Chickenjoy, Jolly Spaghetti, and Yumburgers, while they work on getting these items back in other affected branches.

The company disclosed in a separate statement on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that it has "sufficient raw materials, finished products and production capacity to meet the consumer demand for the entire month of August and for the months ahead."

"The products are in the company's various commissaries, warehouses and logistics centers," it said, adding that the company is working to "enhance its transportation delivery capability" in the coming months.

The move to the new systems, which began on August 1, was the reason for the product limitation, which included "temporary slowdown in sales order taking, product loading and dispatch of transportation," it also said.



The systems upgrade "is the largest investment" as far as its information technology is concerned, the company said, adding that it amounted "to at least half a billion pesos for 2014 alone."

The new enterprise platform "involves the central integrating system, store informations systems," and several others.

"The purpose of this major investment is to prepare JFC for an accelerated business growth in the Philippines and abroad as it pursues its goal to become the largest Asian restaurant company and one of the most successful restaurant companies in the world," the statement read.

Meanwhile, some consumers over at Twitter still seem to miss Jollibee's brand of fried chicken, with sentiments ranging from being funny to seemingly actual cravings:There are others, though, who gloated that they were able to find the meal:

—KBK/NB, GMA News
Tags: jollibee, chickensad
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