Nandos says it hopes to reopen its restaurants in Basildon and Thurrock by the weekend. 

The chain confirmed yesterday the venues at Lakeside and Festival Leisure were among 45 of its restaurants which have been forced to temporarily close due to supply issues. 

Signs in restaurant windows blamed a shortage of stock from suppliers while customers were also told online that it was impacted by “isolation periods” among staff.

Nando’s says it has seconded around 70 staff to suppliers to help with supply issues and hopes to reopen affected restaurants in three days time.

A spokesman said: "The UK food industry has been experiencing disruption across its supply chain in recent weeks due to staff shortages and a number of our restaurants have been impacted.

“However, since Monday, a team of our brilliant Nandocas have been supporting our key suppliers onsite – working in partnership to help get things moving again, and this has already had a positive impact on affected restaurants.

“From this Saturday, as a result of the hard work behind the scenes, it is our intention that all of our restaurants will be open again, and all our customers can enjoy their favourite peri-peri chicken.”

The shortages at Nando’s come weeks after rival KFC warned that supply chain issues meant it was unable to stock some menu items.