Col. Harland Sanders:
American Fast Food Pioneer
The Story of Colonel Sanders
In the beginning...
Colonel Harland Sanders, born September 9,
1890, actively began franchising his chicken
business at the age of 65. Now, the Kentucky
Fried Chicken® business he started has grown
to be one of the largest retail food service
systems in the world. And Colonel Sanders, a
quick service restaurant pioneer, has become a
symbol of entrepreneurial spirit.
More than two billion of the Colonel's "finger
lickin' good" chicken dinners are served
annually. And not just in North America. The
Colonel's cooking is available in more than 82
countries around the world.
When the Colonel was six, his father died. His mother was forced to
go to work, and young Harland had to take care of his three-year-old
brother and baby sister. This meant doing much of the family cooking.
By the age of seven, he was a master of a score of regional dishes.
At age 10, he got his first job working on a nearby farm for $2 a month.
When he was 12, his mother remarried and he left his home near
Henryville, Ind., for a job on a farm in Greenwood, Ind. He held a series
of jobs over the next few years, first as a 15-year-old streetcar
conductor in New Albany, Ind., and then as a 16-year-old private,
soldiering for six months in Cuba.
After that he was a railroad fireman, studied law by correspondence,
practiced in justice of the peace courts, sold insurance, operated an
Ohio River steamboat ferry, sold tires, and operated service stations.
When he was 40, the Colonel began cooking for hungry travelers who
stopped at his service station in Corbin, Ky. He didn't have a
restaurant then, but served folks on his own dining table in the living
quarters of his service station.
As more people started coming just for food, he moved across the
street to a motel and restaurant that seated 142 people. Over the next
nine years, he perfected his secret blend of 11 herbs and spices and
the basic cooking technique that is still used today.
As we grew...
Sander's fame grew. Governor Ruby Laffoon made him a Kentucky
Colonel in 1935 in recognition of his contributions to the state's
cuisine. And in 1939, his establishment was first listed in Duncan
Hines' "Adventures in Good Eating."
In the early 1950s a new interstate highway was planned to bypass the
town of Corbin. Seeing an end to his business, the Colonel auctioned
off his operations. After paying his bills, he was reduced to living on
his $105 Social Security checks.
Confident of the quality of his fried chicken, the Colonel devoted
himself to the chicken franchising business that he started in 1952. He
traveled across the country by car from restaurant to restaurant,
cooking batches of chicken for restaurant owners and their
employees. If the reaction was favorable, he entered into a handshake
agreement on a deal that stipulated a payment to him of a nickel for
each chicken the restaurant sold. By 1964, Colonel Sanders had more
than 600 franchised outlets for his chicken in the United States and
Canada. That year, he sold his interest in the U.S. company for $2
million to a group of investors including John Y. Brown Jr., who later
was governor of Kentucky from 1980 to 1984. The Colonel remained
a public spokesman for the company. In 1976, an independent survey
ranked the Colonel as the world's second most recognizable celebrity.
Under the new owners, Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation grew
rapidly. It went public on March 17, 1966, and was listed on the New
York Stock Exchange on January 16, 1969. More than 3,500
franchised and company-owned restaurants were in worldwide
operation when Heublein Inc. acquired KFC Corporation on July 8,
1971, for $285 million.
Kentucky Fried Chicken became a subsidiary of R.J. Reynolds
Industries, Inc. (now RJR Nabisco, Inc.), when Heublein Inc. was
acquired by Reynolds in 1982. KFC was acquired in October 1986
from RJR Nabisco, Inc. by PepsiCo, Inc., for approximately $840
million.
In January 1997, PepsiCo, Inc. announced the spin-off of its quick
service restaurants -- KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut -- into an
independent restaurant company. The spin-off should be completed
during the fourth quarter 1997. The new restaurant company, TRICON
Global Restaurants, Inc., will be the world's largest restaurant system
with more than 29,500 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants in
nearly 100 countries and territories.
Until he was fatally stricken with leukemia in 1980 at the age of 90, the
Colonel traveled 250,000 miles a year visiting the KFC empire he
founded.
And it all began with a 65-year-old gentleman who used his $105
Social Security check to start a business.
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