“If you’ve got time to lean, you’ve got time to clean.” That was one expression that Sanders was fond of telling his staff at Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets across the country.
Sanders was a meticulous man and it showed in everything he did. He knew that delicious tasting food and snazzy marketing would not be enough to woo customers to his outlets. He also had to make sure that each and every franchise location maintained the highest standards of cleanliness and customer service possible. After all, Sanders knew that it did not matter how tasty his chicken was; if customers saw it coming from a dirty kitchen, they would immediately be turned off.
It was to that end that Sanders insisted on keeping his kitchens as clean as possible. Everything was painted white so that signs of dirt could be spotted easily and dealt with immediately. He was also one of the first restaurateurs to place holes in the walls between the kitchen and the dining area in order to let customers see into the kitchen and how the food was being prepared.
Sanders might have appeared to be a loveable man to KFC customers who see his smiling face posted on their buckets of chicken, but there was another side of him that only his employees and colleagues saw. Sanders was a perfectionist. He was often given to making surprise visits to his franchise outlets to inspect the state of their kitchens. Not only would he examine them for their cleanliness, but if he saw an employee going about cooking his recipes improperly, he would not be too shy to tell them.
For Sanders, service, quality, and cleanliness were to be every franchisee’s top priorities. He wanted things done right, and he was very particular about what that meant. Whether it was sweeping the floors or showing a chef how to properly prepare his special gravy, there was nothing in a restaurant that Sanders was unwilling to do.
This was also part of his reason for showing up to each and every franchise opening. Whether it was raining or snowing, Sanders would still show up to be right alongside all of his employees on their very first day of business. He not only wanted to greet customers and gain the free publicity, but he also wanted to make sure that everything was up to his level of satisfaction.
And, Sanders was not just concerned with his chicken. He would also make it his business to look after the restaurants’ other food. As his wife once said, “Sometimes their pies or meats or vegetables wouldn’t be just right so he began to show them how to do all of it. He wanted the restaurants that served his chicken to have good food.”
It was Sanders’ attention to detail and his refusal to compromise on any aspect of his business that enabled him to attract a loyal following of customers. They knew that the Sanders brand was one they could trust.
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