24th September 1952
9th September 1890, 16th December 1980
(read time: 3 mins.)
On 24 September 1952, Colonel Sanders secured Kentucky Fried Chicken’s first franchise, receiving 5 cents per chicken sold. The world’s first Kentucky Fried Chicken was actually served in a restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Harland David Sanders…
…was born on 9 September 1890 a few miles east of Henryville, Indiana.
At the age of five, Sanders’ father died, his mother took up work at a local tomato cannery and, by the age of seven, he was cooking meals for his younger siblings.
Harland was learning the dark art of conjuring up palatable food from next to nothing.
Little did those siblings realise, as they dutifully ate whatever their elder brother put in front of them, that they were the first unwitting guinea pigs for what would become a global empire.
At sixteen, Sanders falsified his age and joined the army. He served briefly in Cuba before, three months later, receiving an honourable discharge for unspecified reasons.
Twenty-five years of treading water followed. The drifter from Indiana worked as a railroad fireman, insurance salesman, steamboat pilot and even as a justice of the peace.
Turning forty years old must have jolted the struggling Sanders. He had, at least, accumulated enough savings to open a service station in Corbin, Kentucky. To develop new income streams, he served travellers meals from a small table at the back of the station.
Finger lickin’ chicken
They say that from little acorns oak trees grow. News of some finger lickin’ chicken from Kentucky had spread. Sanders’ fried chicken, cooked with a secret blend of herbs and spices, was proving irresistible. Accordingly, he opened a 142-seat restaurant across the road.
The venture was a great success and Governor Ruby Laffoon awarded Sanders the title of ‘Colonel’ for his contribution to Kentucky’s cuisine.
Life was rosy. However, in the early 1950s, a new interstate highway bypassed Corbin altogether. Bankruptcy was looming for Sanders. But the plucky 62-year-old ‘Colonel’ wasn’t finished.
Legend has it that he loaded his car with a pressure cooker and secret recipe and started driving across America. His offer to restaurants: ‘I’ll cook my special chicken for you and you pay me 5 cents for every piece you sell.’
Apparently, one thousand rejections later, he secured his first partner.
A more sober reflection of events suggests that Harland met a restaurateur from Salt Lake City at a convention in Chicago. The Colonel cooked his revered fried chicken for Pete Harman and his wife Arline. They were hooked.
Kentucky Fried Chicken, Utah-style
In 1952, Kentucky Fried Chicken had secured its first franchise, receiving 5 cents per chicken sold. So, the world’s first Kentucky Fried Chicken was actually served in a restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah.
By 1964, Kentucky Fried Chicken had franchised over 600 restaurants. Sanders was 73 years old, exhausted and needing help. So he sold his business for $2 million (equivalent to $20 million today), while maintaining a lifelong salary and specific franchise rights overseas.
Within seven years, the new owners had sold KFC for $285 million (equivalent to $2.2 billion today). Ouch.
Today, KFC has over 30,000 franchises in 147 countries with a market capitalisation of approximately $40 billion.
The Colonel may have been outmanoeuvred financially, but he still had the satisfaction that his 11 secret herbs and spices had created one of the most successful food franchises in history.
Out of Curiosity
In 2017, KFC’s marketing agency pulled off the social media scoop of the decade.
They quietly unfollowed 35,000 Twitter accounts to replace them with just 11—five Spice Girls and six men named ‘Herb’.
A month later, the penny finally dropped, and the Twitter world went viral.
FOOTNOTE
As for Colonel Harland David Sanders, he died on 16 December 1980 at the ripe old age of 90. Perhaps those 11 herbs and spices had more magical properties than they are generally credited with.
The chicken magnate was laid in state at the Kentucky State Capitol, an honour usually reserved for the grandest of statesmen. He was dressed in his trademark white suit, white shirt, black string tie and a walking cane under his right arm.
On brand right to the end.
Thank you for joining me.
Steve
CHIEF STORY HUNTER & WRITER
ATTRIBUTIONS
A portrait of Colonel Harland Sanders: Norman Rockwell, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Harland Sanders and family: Photographer unknown. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Colonel Sanders’ business card: Mr. Blue MauMau, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
