A name that has marked it's presence in the hearts of hundreds and thousands of chicken lovers, does,;t need any introduction.Well even if you don't have a love for chicken, this story of Colonel Sanders will make you beg to know more about him.This story is about a man who is an excellent example of Persistence, Commitment and Determination. Today we're going to talk about the most loved chicken brand in the world, KFC and this is the success story of Colonel Harland Sanders as how this fast food item followed an unlikely path to creating a multi billion dollar international company.
The story starts with Harland Sanders, who was born in a small town of Indiana, in the year 1890. At the age of 12, after his father passed away, he took the responsibilities in his shoulders, and left home to find some jobs to support his poverty stricken family. Later his mom remarried when he was twelve years old. It goes that his new stepfather didn't like the boys around. Sander's brother was sent to live with an aunt, while he was sent to work on a farm like 80 miles away. Sanders soon realized that he would work all day rather go to school. So he dropped out in the seventh grade.
Later he started working at various places without a proper goal. Sanders spent the first half of his life doing a series of odd jobs. Including stocking the steam engines of the trains, selling insurance, selling tires, making lighting systems and operating a ferry. However the only skill that he possessed was cooking, that his mother had taught him from the age of seven. After having his hand on many odd jobs, he couldn't stay at any place for long. Later he became a cook and a dish washer at a small cafe. Finally in the year 1930 he settled in a permanent job, at the shell filling station, just outside a small city called North Corbin. In his free time he used to cook dishes his mother had taught him and served them in his cereal house that he converted into a small eatery. And soon his recipes were a big hit with the travelers.
Travelers would regularly stop by his place to eat at his place. With all the savings he had, Sanders bought a larger place nearby to accommodate the ever increasing customers.He increased the dishes and included the legendary fried chicken for the first time in 1936. By the year 1937, he again expanded the hotel which could now accommodate up to 150 people at the same time. He was extremely happy that he had become successful in his new business. But he was always looking forward to improve his production process and expand his customer base. Later in order to expand his business he started to travel in his car to different restaurants and cooked his fried chicken for restaurant owners on the spot. However Sander's recipe was rejected by 1009 Restaurants as they did not like the taste. But Sanders never gave up. He knew his recipes were one of a kind and unique. He went ahead with the same conviction as he used to have and finally a restaurant owner agreed to sell Sanders chicken.
Soon more restaurants were waiting to sell this new recipe of fried chicken in their restaurants. By 1963 nearly 600 restaurants were selling his recipe. After 4 years Kentucky Fried Chicken was at the peak of glory. But sander's decided to sell the co operation to a private investor named John Y Brown. Under the deal he received $ 2 Million in cash and remains the official face of the company. for which he was paid around $250,000 every year. Sanders wasn't happy to let go off his baby, but at the age of 75 he thought it would be great to see his company beyond his capacity. Also Sanders was never really worried about making money. He always focused on quality and customer experience than anything else. Soon KFC initialized stand alone stores and specialized in the take home model.
By the year 1967 KFC had gone on to become the 6th largest restaurant by sales volume in the U.S. And soon it spread into more than 40 countries with 3000 outlets by the end of the year 1970. KFC changed many hands before it came under the ownership of YUM brands in the year 1997. But soon they added many more recipes into their menu like desserts, sandwiches and drinks that would compliment its best selling fried chicken. By the year 1991 their sales had doubled and reached an estimate of $6.2 billion and a total of 8,500 outlets around the world. Well that was just the beginning of KFC as there was no stopping to this ever growing company.
Today KFC is the second largest restaurants in the world.It has faced a lot of ups and down but has always remained a crowd favorite ever since its launch with over 20,000 stores across 123 countries and with a revenue over $23 billion, KFC today is one of the biggest brands in the world. Sanders may have lacked the motivation to become as wealthy as he could have be. But he's now know across 123 countries for his favorite fried chicken recipe which more than he could ever hoped for when he hit the road at the age of 65. The success of KFC is the result of endless trails and experiments and the persistence of Colonel Sanders to eventually make it one of the biggest brands in the world
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