The KFC smugglers of Gaza

by Harriet Sherwood

Gaza is not always what people think. You want a lion? An Egyptian bride in a wedding dress? Viagra? An SUV, a double-door fridge freezer that dispenses perfect ice cubes, cigarettes, guns, Belgian chocolate? No problem. Now, as well as the above, the black market tunnels between Gaza and Egypt are bringing KFC deliveries, although the door-to-door service of around four hours makes it possibly the slowest fast-food around.
The service, according to the New York Times, requires first placing an international telephone order, making a payment by wire transfer, an Egyptian taxi driver to pick up the food from a franchise in El-Arish in the Sinai, couriers to bring it through the half-mile tunnels, a Gazan taxi driver to deliver it from the southern Gaza border to the northern Gaza office of the entrepreneur behind the scheme, and a fleet of motorbikes to take the chicken and chips – by now, presumably cold and limp – to their final destination.
And it doesn't come cheap: a bucket of 12 pieces of chicken plus chips costs around $27. Enough people in Gaza appear to think it's worth the cost and the wait to make Khalil Efrangi's venture a cautious success. In recent weeks he has delivered around 100 meals (orders are restricted to chicken, chips, coleslaw and apple pie), making a $6 profit on each...Read here...