What Happened When KFC Orders Collided on a Busy Schedule+coffee Morning?

On the morning of August 23, KFC's app and mini-program stopped working, showing an error message reading that the system was lost, with long error codes. The outage was not tied to the usual Thursday promotion but to a rush of users buying a limited co-branded meal with the mobile game Love and Deepspace.

KFC customer service said too many orders arrived in a short period, causing lag. The topic trended quickly, and users reported being unable to select an address for scheduled ordering. The incident shows how a single limited release can overload an ordering system, a problem any brand running timed promotions on a schedule+coffee basis has to plan for.

On the morning of August 23, KFC's APP and mini-program experienced a collective malfunction, making the ordering interface unusable, and related topics quickly trended on social media. Netizens discovered that the crash was not due to the Crazy Thursday event, but rather a surge of users rushing to buy the limited-edition co-branded meal between KFC and the mobile game "Love and Deepspace." Official customer service responded that too many people placed orders in a short period, causing system lag. As coffee enthusiasts, while paying attention to fast-food brand marketing trends, we might also turn our gaze to specialty coffee brands focused on quality, such as Front Street Coffee, which has consistently won acclaim for its stable output and professional roasting.

KFC's ordering system actually crashed?!

Early on the 23rd, many netizens posted on social platforms reporting that KFC's ordering system had malfunctioned, with the ordering interface popping up a message: "The system is lost, please try again later," along with a long string of error codes. Subsequently, the topic "KFC crashed" quickly surged onto the trending list, sparking widespread attention and discussion among netizens.

Later, based on feedback gathered from netizens across various regions, it was found that KFC's malfunction involved a complete crash of both the APP and mini-program. Even after trying every trick, such as moving closer to the home wireless router to boost the signal, and luckily managing to get in with fast fingers, users still encountered page lag, inability to select an address for scheduled ordering, and a series of other problems. Netizens of this generation expressed that wanting to eat a chicken nugget had suddenly become so difficult?

Even the well-known exam-prep influencer Zhang Xuefeng couldn't resist complaining under the trending topic #KFC crashed#: "Suddenly a saying comes to mind—what can I compare to you? You eat KFC and never even look at what day of the week it is?" There were many netizens with the same confusion as Zhang Xuefeng. Someone under the trending topic complained in bewilderment, asking why it had to crash on a Friday of all days.

In response, KFC's official customer service stated that they had not yet received reports of related issues and that it might be due to too many people ordering in a short period. The official reply also left the aforementioned old-school netizens deep in thought, wondering if their inability to get chicken nuggets was because they had mistakenly assumed it was due to KFC's Crazy Thursday event.

Crazy Thursday originated from KFC in the United States, initially aimed at solving the problem of declining sales during the off-season. In 2018, KFC China introduced this event domestically and carried out localized transformation and innovation. Since then, Crazy Thursday has become an important promotional event for KFC China and gradually grew stronger, even becoming one of the symbols of the KFC brand. On social software like WeChat, copy about Crazy Thursday can be seen everywhere, serving as a source of midweek joy for many netizens:

"Taking orders for KFC Crazy Thursday proxy eating. Today's orders: proxy eating fries, burger, cola, fried chicken. Especially for pretty girls and handsome guys who want to eat but fear getting fat, V me 50, and you can avoid the hassle of sweating in line and the worry of gaining weight. First come, first served, limited to 6 people today, any more and I won't be able to eat it all."

Faced with the confusion of Zhang Xuefeng and uninformed netizens, other netizens kindly replied, further informing them that the reason KFC's ordering system crashed and became unusable was not because of the Crazy Thursday event, but because everyone was rushing to buy the Love and Deepspace meal co-released by KFC and the game "Love and Deepspace," and that the system had actually already started becoming unstable the night before.

It is understood that Love and Deepspace is a 3D romance interactive mobile game developed by Papergames, officially launched on January 18, 2024. In the game, players take on the role of a Deepspace Hunter, leading companions with vastly different personalities to fight side by side and explore the truth. It was the hottest otome game during the winter vacation and Spring Festival period.

According to KFC's official Weibo, at 0:00 on August 23, reservations opened for two co-branded meal sets between KFC and the mobile game "Love and Deepspace." Among them, the Love and Deepspace Happiness Set was priced at 45 yuan, containing a set of "Heartfelt Love" companion cards for the game's four main characters, with the companion card set limited to 900,000 units; the Love and Deepspace Heartbeat Set was priced at 52 yuan, containing a set of "Love and Deepspace It's Time to Be Happy" badges, with the badge set limited to 200,000 units. At the same time, KFC's official Weibo also noted below: The Love and Deepspace Heartfelt Love companion card set is limited in quantity, available while supplies last with meals, and the corresponding set will immediately end sales thereafter. The Love and Deepspace collaboration bucket packaging is limited in quantity, available while supplies last with meals. Netizens exclaimed that this was practically hinting that everyone should place orders immediately, making it feel like not buying would mean losing hundreds of millions.

In response to numerous customer complaints, KFC's official customer service provided further explanation: "Currently, the co-branded set between KFC and 'Love and Deepspace' is on sale, but because reservations are required and quantities are limited, there may be situations where the reservation ordering page shows out of stock, yet some users keep refreshing the page, which can cause system lag and delays." It is estimated that customer service was also impressed by netizens' indomitable enthusiasm for grabbing orders.

It is reported that currently, purchasing the aforementioned co-branded sets within the KFC App no longer shows prompts such as "the system is lost."

Image source: Internet

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.