The Colonel and His Chicken

The Colonel and His Chicken: The Recipe for Franchise Success

The world’ most popular chicken restaurant chain, Kentucky Fried Chicken, more widely known as KFC, had humble origins. What started out as a small cooking operation in a gas station in Corbin, Kentucky, is now part of the Yum! Corporation (the world’s largest restaurant system) with more than 11,000 KFCs in over 80 countries around the world.

Kentucky Fried Chicken was invented by Harland Sanders, who was born in 1890 near Henryville, Indiana. Raised by a single mother, he left home at the age of 12 to work on a farm, and held a series of jobs including painter, streetcar conductor, insurance salesman and service station operator. In 1929, he opened his own gas station in Corbin, Kentucky, where he sometimes cooked meals for his family and an occasional lucky customer. His specialties were southern style dishes his mother had taught him – country ham, homemade biscuits, and of course, pan-fried chicken. He claimed to have a secret recipe for his chicken, and that formula proved to be the key to the future success of his restaurant enterprise.

Word got out about Sanders’ delicious chicken, and in response to demand, he opened a 142-seat restaurant across the street from his original station location. He also added a motel – the first in the state.  To accommodate large volume, he invented a way to pressure cook his fried chicken, and claimed this contributed to the meat’s taste and texture.

Named “Sanders Court and Café” the café growing wildly popular in the region – so much so, that in 1936, the state Governor granted Sanders the honorary title of “Kentucky Colonel.” In 1939, Sanders Court and Café won a designation by Duncan Hine’s Adventures in Good Eating  – putting Sanders on the map for travelers.

World War II and its impact on gas rationing and tourism forced Sanders to close his motel. He intended to re-open after the war, but then got the bad news that a new interstate planned for the area...