Chicken Inn (at least the Market Square Branch) has ran out of chickens amid claims that Irvines is experiencing challenges. The tip off came from a consumer who said the staff at Chicken Inn Market Square Branch said all branches are out. The consumer had gone to the branch to buy a meal early in the morning.
We haven’t confirmed with all branches yet but looks like supply is erratic in the least. This also comes amid an egg shortage in major supermarkets.
The deficit could be due to the outbreak of the avian influenza virus, also known as H5N8, which has affected the country’s largest producer of poultry Irvine’s Zimbabwe. The disease had initially been detected and confirmed on May 24, 2017. Zimbabwe’s Government suspended all trade in birds and chicken products from South Africa to prevent the H5N8 bird flu virus from spreading into the country and repeating a process that led to the killing of 142 000 chickens at a farm in Harare.
In August this year, Government allowed chicken breeders to import hatching eggs from Europe in a move that was meant to prevent a shortage of poultry products. Zimbabwe Poultry Association chairman Solomon Zawe said:
We are running short of day- old chicks but starting September 16, we will be importing hatching eggs from Europe because the breeders and layers stock has been affected by bird flu. All major poultry breeders got import permits from the Ministry of Agriculture.
A reliable source also confirmed that Pizza Inn is having challenges with supplies of cheese as well and have been closing some branches early because of it. They said probably Pomona and Emerald Hill Pizza Inn branches are the ones unaffected because they are the top priority branches.
Pizza Inn gets its cheese from Kefalos a Zimbabwean company and Lancewood, a South African company. Perhaps foreign currency problems are to blame.