Overview
- Chicken Licken first told customers on social media that it would scrap the rubber bands and sell remaining stock until it ran out.
- Fans and public figures piled in with jokes and tributes, with Anele Mdoda asking if people should bring their own food containers.
- Many replies turned to a long-running gripe about saltiness, with users quipping that the chain should “discontinue the salt” instead.
- Hours after the viral post, the company confirmed it was a gag and declared, “Long live the rubber band,” in an April Fools’ message.
- The family-owned brand, founded in 1981, runs more than 300 outlets in South Africa, where the thick orange bands are a familiar part of its takeaway packaging.