9 months ago
An employee at the KFC at 4328 Hartley Bridge Road said this morning that they'd run out of chicken and planned to reopen this afternoon.
A sign in the window said they'd reopen at 4 p.m.
"You know I came by here on Wednesday and it was packed so I decided to come back [on Thursday] and I pull up and see it's closed," said a hungry Aubrey Jones holding his coupon. "I'm like, you gotta be kidding me."
This comes as KFCs nationwide report long lines and chicken shortages. Oprah Winfrey's Tuesday show promoted a free-meal coupon available online Tuesday night and Wednesday. It offered a two-piece grilled chicken meal with two sides and a biscuit.
The coupon is no longer available, but can be redeemed until May 19.
Thursday morning, employees at a KFC on Shurling Drive said they were packed since opening at 10:30 a.m. They said people were waiting about a half hour for their free meal, but the wait was expected to get longer later in the day.
"I don't care about the wait because it's free, the chicken's free," said an excited Jessica Dennis. "In this economy, I'd wait a while to get a free meal."
At the Tom Hill Senior Boulevard KFC, customers said the wait wasn't as long as other restaurants because of the "coupon system" employees set up.
"Yeah, we got people who want the free chicken only using one of the registers inside," said Xavier Haugabrook, a cook. "That frees up the other register and the drive through to keep traffic moving."
According to Oprah's website, the coupons are no longer available for downloading and printing out, but can be redeemed until May 19th.
You can't use a coupon for the free grilled chicken meal on Mother's Day, though.
Oprah says anyone who didn't get a chance to cash in on a coupon will have another chance during a "free chicken raincheck" later this year.
