Read the case study provided and answer the following questions.

SA FAT CHICKEN CRISIS IS GETTING WORSE SAYS POULTRY GIANT

SA's largest poultry producer, Astral Foods, said on Monday its shortage of smaller$-$sized chicken portions for the fast$-$food

restaurant sector had worsened since December amid continuing load shedding. There isn't a lack of chickens $$ instead,

chicken houses are full of birds that cannot be slaughtered due to electricity outages. As they wait, the chickens are getting

heavier. Fast$-$food outlets typically require chickens of around $1\mathrm{.}8$kg$.$ But many now weigh more than $2\mathrm{.}4$kg$,$ one poultry

farmer told News$24.$ In December, KCF was forced to temporarily close some outlets due to problems with chickens. Astral

told News$24$ the situation has worsened since December as more regular Stage $6$ load shedding is implemented.

"Currently, it is difficult to find birds in the weight ranges required for QSR $($quick$-$service restaurant$)$ production," said Astral,

while adding that it couldn't comment on behalf of the entire industry. The group said it had commissioned diesel back$-$up

generators at all its processing sites in February $2023,$ but there was still a backlog of large live birds on farms. Astral said

that once the backlog had been completely addressed, $"$QSR production should normalise". Spur Corporation CEO Val

Nichas said on Monday that the group, which owns brands such as its namesake steakhouse, Roco Mamas and John

Dory's, had mitigated the chicken supply crisis by using a combination of larger and some smaller chicken suppliers. "The

biggest challenge has been the supply of wings and leg quarters, but this has been mitigated via this portfolio of chicken

suppliers. Our specifications have not been compromised at all in this process." Nichas says many suppliers have ramped

up their generator capacity in recent months, but this $$ along with running costs, including diesel $$ could results in price

hikes of $9\%$ to $10\%.$

Doug Place, chief marketing officer for Nando's Africa Middle East and South Asia, told News$24$ last week that while the

restaurant industry was under similar if not more pressure from a supply point of view that it experienced in December,

Nando's was not likely to run out of stock. $"$We are confident we will keep all stores open and that we will have all menu

items available for sale," said Place. But he said there was no doubt there was "more pressure", adding that the main

reason was that the "mean load shedding level had moved from $2$ to $4"$ which compounds the supply chain issues between

the farm and getting the chicken into restaurants. "There are definitely shortages of chicken. The stock on hand is at lower

levels than what we would feel comfortable with. December was particularly tough because demand was higher as people

eat out more. And even though now demand is less, the mean load shedding impact is higher." Place said, however, that

the danger of discontinuing menu items or shutting restaurants temporarily is low. $"$We run a good supply chain and we've

had $15$ years of practice with load shedding even if it hasn't been at this level." Nevertheless he said Nando's was anxious

about load shedding and the supply situation.

Responding to questions last week, KFC South Africa said that its supply is "currently stable" with $"$no menu items or

stores" affected.

QUESTION $1$

$1\mathrm{.}1.$ From a supply chain and operations management context, critically discuss the impacts of loadshedding for

KFC$,$ Nandos and Spur as highlighted in the case study.

$1\mathrm{.}2.$ As the Marketing Manager at KFC$,$ you have been tasked by the Group CEO, Sabir Sami, to prepare a report

addressing the ramifications of the highlighted crisis and devising your response strategy. Make use of relevant

examples.