How To Build One Of The World's Fastest Growing Retail Brands Even If You Are A Seventh-Grade Dropout
Know how Colonel Harland Sanders founded Kentucky Fried Chicken, making it one of the largest chicken restaurant chains globally.
The founder of KFC, Colonel Harland David Sanders, was born on 9 September 1890 in Henryville, Indiana.
His father died when he was just six years old. His mother got a job in a tomato cannery. Harland had to look after and cook for his siblings.
He took on significant responsibilities and worked many jobs at a young age, such as steam engine stoker, insurance salesman, filling station operator, and conductor.
Beginning To Sell Fried Chicken
In 1930, Harland operated a Shell Oil company service station in Corbin, Kentucky.
During the great depression, he began selling meals to the travellers on his dining table in a small area adjacent to the service station.
Sander’s chicken became widely popular among travellers, and its number of customers continuously increased.
By 1937, Sanders decided to shift to a bigger place to accommodate the increasing number of customers and opened ‘Sanders Cafe.’
Harland was honoured with the title of colonel by the governor of Kentucky as a recognition for his contribution to Kentucky’s culinary reputation and his role in am promoting Southern cuisine.
Sadly, in 1939, Sanders cafe was destroyed in a fire. But rather than backing down, he saw it as an opportunity to rebuild and improve his business model.
By then, Sanders had perfected his secret end of 11 herbs and spices and had finalised his “Secret Recipe” for frying chicken in a pressure fryer, which cooked the chicken faster while still maintaining its juicy taste.
Sanders built a new building called Sanders Court and Cafe, which had both a cafe and a motel.
Expanding By Franchising
Sanders Court and Cafe was a hit, and the demand for Harland’s unique recipe increased.
Harland wanted to serve more people and sell more chicken. To do so, he realised that just opening more restaurants himself would be an expensive and risky choice.
So, Harland thought of letting other people run their own restaurants using his famous fried chicken recipe.
Recognising the potential for franchising, Harland started to visit restaurants. He used to sleep in the back of his car and visit the already-established restaurants.
He offered to cook his chicken, and if workers liked it, Sanders negotiated the franchise rights with them.
In 1952, Harland met Pete Harman, who was the owner of the largest restaurant operator in Utah. Pete was interested in adding a new and unique recipe to his menu and agreed to take the franchise from Harland.
During this time, Pete hired Don Anderson, a sign painter, who suggested adding “Kentucky” to the restaurant’s name.
This would give a sense of Southern hospitality and differentiate it from other chicken recipes available back then.
The first ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’ franchise restaurant was opened in Salt Lake City, Utah, on September 24, 1952.
It’s Finger-Licking Good!
The sales at KFC restaurant tripled in just one year.
In 1950, Sanders started wearing his famous white suit, which was a deliberate branding decision to stand out and convey cleanliness and professionalism.
Since then, Harland has worn the white suit every time he went out in public, which became an iconic outfit.
By 1960, KFC had grown enormously, with over 600 franchised restaurants across the United States.
The company began to form marketing strategies by including the use of the iconic “bucket” for takeout chicken and using the phrase “It’s finger-lickin’ good.”
Selling KFC
By then, Sanders was 73 years old, making it difficult to manage the brand's rapid expansion.
In 1963, Sanders met John Y. Brown Jr, an American businessman and politician who was interested in joining KFC.
Sanders, instead of taking John on board, made an offer to sell the brand to him for $2 million.
The deal was made, and Sanders gained the right to become a salaried brand ambassador for KFC and continued to promote it until his death on 16 December 1980 at the age of 90 years.
KFC Today
After Sanders's death, a significant focus was made to market the brand in Asia.
By the mid-1960s, KFC was one of the first American fast-food chains to expand internationally.
In 1986, KFC was acquired by PepsiCo for $840 million. This allowed KFC for further expansion.
By 1987, KFC became the first Western fast-food chain to open in China. China has since become KFC’s largest market globally.
Introduction to limited-time offers, collaboration with popular brands and celebrities and adoption of local tastes and preferences made KFC one of the largest fast-food chains in the world.
Today, KFC has more than 30k restaurants in more than 150 countries globally.
And this is how Harland Sanders founded KFC, which today has a global brand value of $6.7 billion.
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