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Finger Lickin’ Good: Sanders Opens Kentucky Fried Chicken

Article Overview: In 1930, Sanders opened up a service station along U.S. 25, a busy highway which ran through Kentucky. It was not just a regular gas station. When people stopped to refill their gas tanks, Sanders made sure they refilled their stomachs as well. With home-cooked meals that his wife and children helped to prepare, Sanders’ first venture into the fast-food industry had begun. His station might have been simple, with only one table and six chairs, but it was a start.

Finger Lickin’ Good: Sanders Opens Kentucky Fried Chicken

In 1930, Sanders opened up a service station along U.S. 25, a busy highway which ran through Kentucky. It was not just a regular gas station. When people stopped to refill their gas tanks, Sanders made sure they refilled their stomachs as well. With home-cooked meals that his wife and children helped to prepare, Sanders’ first venture into the fast-food industry had begun. His station might have been simple, with only one table and six chairs, but it was a start.

It was the Great Depression, but Sanders proved his doubters wrong by showing that people would still eat out if it was convenient for them. His station was so successful that soon Sanders had to move to a bigger establishment. He relocated across the street and opened up not just another gas station, but also a motel and a dining room with 142 seats. Knowing little about restaurant or hotel management, Sanders signed up for an eight-week course from Cornell University to better understand the business.

Sanders’ restaurant became known for its homey Southern cooking. There was no menu, but people knew where to go if they wanted pan fried chicken or biscuits. After a positive review by a well-known restaurant critic at the time, the popularity of Harland Sanders Court & Café exploded. In 1935, Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon even honored its founder with the title of state Colonel.

Two years later, Sanders tried to expand his business, starting a chain of restaurants throughout the state. He also tried to open a similar motel and restaurant operation in Asheville, North Carolina. Both attempts, however, failed.

Sanders put his plans for expansion on hold for the meantime, deciding instead to focus on perfecting his chicken recipe. He wanted to find a way to create his unique fried chicken with its special blend of spices faster than the 45 minutes it usually took to prepare. After figuring out how to use a new product on the market called a pressure cooker, Sanders figured out how to achieve his goal. Finally, he could make his special chicken in a fraction of the traditional time.

All of Sanders’ hard work, however, seemed to come to an end when the federal government announced it was going to build a new highway that would essentially make Sanders’ site worthless. Forced to sell off his property to pay his debts, Sanders found himself broke at the age of 66.

Yet Sanders still had faith in his chicken recipe. He loaded all his equipment and ingredients in his car and began to travel the country demonstrating his unique process to restaurant owners. He offered them a deal: for every chicken sold with Sanders’ secret recipe, he would get five cents of the sale. After being rejected numerous times, Sanders finally found a few takers. His popularity rebounded and Sanders found himself back on track. Sanders then reopened his own restaurant and begun to sign franchise agreements with many of these other restaurants. By 1960, he had over 400 franchisees.

Four years later, Sanders sold his operation to a group of investors for $2 million, as well as a lifetime annual salary of $40,000. While it was a decision he would later regret, Sanders remained an integral part of the company, and served as its spokesperson until he died of leukemia at the age of 90. Today, although the company’s name has been shortened to just KFC so as not to be associated with fried and unhealthy foods, the image of its founder remains as strong a part of its corporate identity as ever.

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Article Tags: biscuits, cornell university, fast food, finger lickin, first venture, food industry, fried chicken, gas station, gas tanks, great depression, harland sanders, home cooked meals, hotel management, kentucky fried, pan fried, restaurant critic, sanders restaurant, six chairs, southern cooking, stomachs



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Now KFC is rebranding... - I love Kentucky Fried Chicken - those 11 herbs and spices. Yum yum. Of course with the interference of the government and trans fat the chicken no longer tastes the same.... but I still like it... But all that's beside the point of this post, which is that in 1991, apparently, Kentucky Fried Chicken changed its name to KFC, and now, 15 years later, they're changing it back, because last year was a down year for them. I'm confused about this, because only yesterday my brother pointed out that the reason they'd changed the name in the first place was because the state of Kentucky was going to charge them a royalty fee for the use of the word Kentucky. I've been unable to verify that... but if its true... perhaps they worked out some kind of deal... I didnt' realize that the state of New York charges non-residents taxes, if they do a portion of their work in that state. For example, when a baseball, football or basketball team comes in to New York to play a team there - the visiting team's players have to pay taxes on the income they earn from that game - to New York. As far as I'm concerned, that's outrageous!!!
How To Make Up for Mistakes? - This topic has more to do with restaurants, I would think, than any other type of business, but I just thought I'd throw it out there. Earlier today I went to my local Kentucky Fried Chicken, where it quickly became clear that probalby 2/3rds of the staff were brand new... As I came in someone was complaining that they'd been given the wrong order, and 30 minutes later when I left, it was just after a man came into complain that he'd been given the wrong order. (Obviously through drivethru.) Why was I there for 30 minutes? I came in and ordered an 8 piece original meal. 5 minutes later I was told it was going to be another ten minutes, as the chicken had just gone down. 10 minutes later, I was told that *that* chicken had been the Extra Crispy, and they had run out of original and so it would be another 15 minutes for that. 15 minutes later...the manager told me that the original recipe had *just* gone down, the person he'd told to do it 15 minutes ago hadn't done it. Now, to make up for my 30 minute wait, the manager did give me 4 extra pieces of chicken, free. And then I got home to discover that instead of being given a side order of coleslaw, I'd been given green beans. Even if the green bean/cole slaw mixup hadn't happened... I seriously, seriously doubt if I'll ever go back to that KFC. Granted it was obvious that they were training in new people, but there's a point where sheer ineptitude begins to be apparent - they should be training people such that no one is on the floor who doesnt' know their job! And even though the manager gave me those 4 extra pieces of chicken as an apology, and although I appreciated it - and felt I deserved it - I will not be going back to that KFC any time soon. So.... from a restauranteur's standpoint, was it a waste of good chicken to give me those extra pieces when chances are I would never return?
Fast food workers - [quote:jxsovz2s] so why do franchises treat their employees like "worker bees" (i.e. work them till they quit or die or at least wish for their own deaths)? [/quote:jxsovz2s] I think that if "worker bees" approach their job with the right attitude, they can accomplish much. There are plenty of other people at the restaurant, so one is able to meet and interact with lots of people, see their personalities, etc. which is good for evaluating employees when you're in a position to hire them yourself. I think the main fault with fast-food restaurants is that they have such a hard time getting employees that they'll take anyone they can get, and then they only give them a couple of hours training before they put them out on the floor. Worse, they put them on the floor during the rush hour, and pretty soon they're in the deep end and not having fun because they don't really know what they're doing, and their managers are snapping at them and the customers are snapping at them and they get so frustrated that they quit. I suppose there are people who can pick up things very quickly and those are the ones that stick around...but there is certainly a high turnover rate. I talked a bit about this a month or so ago, when I related my experiences at a Kentucky Fried Chicken, where it was a comedy of errors, with me having to wait 20 minutes for my food, and then [i:jxsovz2s]still [/i:jxsovz2s]getting the wrong order. (And not the first time I'd had problems at this restaurant.) I have nothing but respect for fast food workers, and if they do screw up, I feel that 90% of the time it's the fault of the managers who didn't train them properly. But I doubt if the managers screw up because they don't care - [i:jxsovz2s]they [/i:jxsovz2s]probably haven't been trained properly in how to train their workers!
Hello, I'm a newbie too - Hi, I was introduced to your site by a friend from a different forum. I had asked the question "how many people became successes after age 45?" and one response led me here. I'm still looking for the answer to that question, I've been studying a variety of things, and I've read Ray Kroc's autobiography, which led me to wonder how many people became a success after the age of 45. So far I've come up with Kroc, Colonel Sanders, and a few singers. Can any one assist me with this? Thanks, Anita
Categorizing the Famous Entrepreneur Profiles? - By the way Evan, what do you think about my idea to categorize your list of Famous Entrepreneur Profiles by industry rather than by alphabetical order? For instance, if I was a small business owner looking to enter the food industry, I might want to look for inspiration from famous entrepreneurs in a related field (like profiles on Dave Thomas, Harland Sanders, Debbi Fields, etc...). It just seems a bit time consuming having to run down the long list of names you have on the "Features" page. Thanks


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