FAST FOOD CHAIN
NOVEMBER 6, 2021
The Kingdom Of Kentucky Fried Chicken
Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is and American fast food restaurant chain that specializes in fried chicken. The chain is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands that also owns the Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and WingStreet chains. Let’s take a closer look to the kingdom of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
It was founded by Harland Sanders from Kentucky during the Great Depression. His father died when he was 5 years old and her mother taught him to cook at the age of 7. He left home at the age of 13 after her mother remarried and did some professions like tire seller, lawyer, insurance seller, firemen, steamboat operator but didn’t succeed in any.
He started selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in North Corbin, Kentucky in 1930. The place served food for hungry travelers and the fried chicken was so famous that he was named a Kentucky Colonel in 1936 by Governor Ruby Laffoon.
Kentucky Colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky and is the most well-known of a number of honorary colonelcies.
In July 1940, Sanders finalized his “Original Recipe”, a mix of 11 herbs and spices. A recipe that guarded as a secret by KFC to this day. In 1952, Sanders franchised his recipe to his friend Pete Harman of Salt Lake, Utah. The first KFC restaurant was then opened on September 24, 1952 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The name “Kentucky Fried Chicken” was coined by Don Anderson, a sign painter hired by Harman. Later on, Harman trademarked the phrase “It’s finger lickin’ good” and became the company slogan. It was used from 1956 and became one of the best known slogans of the 20th century.
In 1955, Sanders suffered another blow when an interstate highway was built which reduced the number of people taking the highway to his restaurant. He sold his place in Corbin and at the age of 66 he began to travel across the United States offering samples to numerous restaurants. By 1963 there were 600 KFC franchises, making it the largest fast food operation in the US.
The business was growing fast but due to his old age Sanders could not keep up to the pace. In 1964, he sold KFC to a group of investors led by John Y Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey for US $2 million. He received a lifetime salary and became the company’s quality controller and trademark.
In July 1971, Brown sold the company to Heublein, a packaged food and drinks corporation for US $285 million with the chain reached 3.000 outlets in 48 countries. In 1982 Hublein was bought by R. J. Reynolds, the tobacco giant and in July 1986 Reynolds announced the sale of KFC to PepsiCo for US $850 million. PepsiCo spun off its restaurant division into Tricon Global restaurant Inc in 1997 and rebranded the name to Yum! Brands in May 2002.
Sander died in 1980, his work has built a solid foundation for fast food industry in American history. At the time of his death there were around 6.000 KFC restaurants in 50 countries worldwide with $2 billion sales annually.
As of December 2019, KFC is the world’s second largest restaurant chain after McDonald’s with 22.621 locations globally across 150 countries. The headquarters are currently located in Louisville, Kentucky, United States with total revenue in 2020 around US$ 27.9 billion. The brand value of the company is around US $8.1 billion and sales of US $28 billion in 2020.
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