KFC: The Success Story || Inspiration From Colonel Harland Sanders || KFC full form

KFC

Hey friends! How have you been?... Throughout this lockdown period, your mind would have always wanted something new to eat... Not only you but a majority of the people would have wanted something new to eat... So, let me take you into some spicy and delicious case study which is of KFC... It will be very inspiring to look into the life of the founder of KFC, COLONEL HARLAND SANDERS...

A BRIEF LOOK INTO KFC

Kentucky fried chicken (KFC) is an American fast-food restaurant chain founded on March 20, 1930. It has headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain after McDonald... It has 22621 outlets in 150 countries... KFC is a subsidiary of a company named Yum! Brands which also owns many reputed restaurant chains like Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Wing Street... It's fried chicken is one of the best in the world... Its present CEO and President is Tony Lowings... Its slogan is also very famous which is, " It's Finger-Lickin' Good!".

Colonel Harland Sanders: An inspirational pot

Remember the old uncle on the KFC Logo... He is no one else but the founder of the KFC, 'Colonel Harland Sanders'. 

COLONEL HARLAND SANDERS

He had been through many difficulties and struggles in his life. After how many times of failures can you keep patience. The answer may vary. But the answer of Colonel Harland Sanders is just amazing. He failed 1009 times before he started the company. And the year in which he founded the company is also phenomenal. He founded KFC in the year 65!!! It's the age when most people retire. But this person started his own business. When most of the people at this age cuddle up to` their grandchildren, he made the global empire of fried chicken. So let's take a look into his life and his journey towards KFC...

Early life.

 

Sanders was born on 9th September 1890 in Henryville, Indiana... His parents were Wilbur David and Margaret Ann. Sanders' parents were very strict and continuously warned him of the evils of alcohol, tobacco, gambling, etc... Sanders was the oldest among his two siblings... Sanders' father worked as a farmer until he broke his leg. After that, he worked as a butcher in Henryville... But after that, a cloud of gloom surrounded his family... Sanders was of only 5 years when his father died in 1895... The financial conditions of his family deteriorated... His mother got work in a tomato cannery... By the age of 7, Sanders was a master of cooking... He continuously improvised his skills in cooking... He loved to cook chicken and always tried to make some unique recipe with it... When his mother went for work, he used to do the household chores and took care of his siblings. When he was at the age of 10 he went to the farm to earn money... In 1902, Sanders' mother remarried to William Broaddus... They shifted to Greenwood, Indiana... Sanders had a bitter relationship with his stepfather... In 1903, he dropped out of his seventh grade in his school. He worked as a driver of horse carriages in Indianapolis at the age of 13!!! He again left the job and went to work as a farmhand in southern Indiana at the age of 14... 

CAREER LIFE...

In 1906, Sanders went to live with his uncle. His uncle secured his job as a conductor. But he quickly left the job. In 1907, Sanders worked as a blacksmith's helper in the workshops. After two months Sanders worked as a cleaner of pans of trains in Northern Alabama Railroad. He got promoted to the post of the fireman when he was of only 16 years. He worked in railroads for three years but again was fired from his job for insubordination. After this, he went to Norfolk and Western Railway to work as a labourer... He met Josephine King and they got married. They had a son named Harland Jr. But he died in 1932 from infected tonsils... After that, he had two daughters named Margaret Sanders and Mildred Sanders. He once again left his job and went to Tennessee to work as a fireman in the Illinois Central Railroad. By then, he worked as a fireman in the morning and studied law in the La Salle Extension University. Sanders was again fired for brawling with a colleague and he left for the Rock Island Railroad to work as a fireman... 

After three years he practiced law in Little Rock by earning meagre fees. But again he ended up by quarrelling with his client in the courtroom which destroyed his reputation. At this time Sanders went into a state of depression. He felt lonely and decided to give up. But once again he decided to try. He went to work as a labourer in the Pennsylvania Railroad. But he left the job and moved to Jeffersonville... There he worked as a salesman of life insurance for the Prudential Life insurance company. But again he was fired from his job for insubordination. He moved to Louisville and again worked as a salesman for Mutual Benefit Life. After getting fired from various jobs, he was now fed up of being an employee... He wanted to start a business... In 1920, Sanders started a ferry boat company... He arranged ferries on the Ohio River between Jeffersonville and Louisville... He made findings and gradually was appointed as the secretary of the company... But the income from the ferry company didn't support his family... In 1922, he took a job as a secretary at the Chamber of commerce in Columbus, Indiana... But he resigned within a year and gave his full concentration on his ferry business. After this, the ferry business was a success. Sanders had a profit share of $22000 ($330000 today). He used this money to establish an acetylene lamps manufacturing company... But again his bad fate met his success... His business failed after Delco introduced its own electric lamps... Sanders shifted to Winchester, Kentucky. He got a job as a salesman in Michelin Tire Company... But his job was lost as the manufacturing plant was closed... In 1924 he worked for Standard Oil of Kentucky in Nicholas Ville. But again his job was lost as the oil station closed due to the Great Depression.

FOUNDATION STONES OF KFC

In 1930, the Shell Oil company offered Sanders a service station in North Corbin, Kentucky without taking any rent... Sanders opened a small cabin beside the service station in which he served several chicken dishes. Sanders popularity grew and he now he transformed his cabin into a small restaurant. In 1935, Kentucky's governor, Ruby Laffoon visited his restaurant. He was stunned by the taste of the food and to show his gratitude, he gave the title, 'Colonel' to Sanders. In July 1939, Sanders opened a motel in Asheville, North Carolina... But his motel was unfortunately destroyed by a fire... But he once again rebuilt his motel... It was during this time that he made his secret recipe which is now the KFC's secret recipe... But again he failed... As the United States entered the second world war in December 1941, gas was rationed and tourism declined... He was forced to close his motel. To fulfil his stomach, he worked as a supervisor in Seattle. He again left his job and went to work as an assistant cafeteria manager in Oak Ridge, Tennessee... But this job was also lost by him. Another sorrow was also waiting for him. In 1947, Sanders and Josephine got divorced. But he remarried Claudia in 1949...

KFC'S GROWTH...

Sanders had no money left for him... His financial conditions deteriorated. He even had suicidal thoughts, but then again didn't lose his patience. He decided to earn some money with his chicken recipe. He went to various restaurants, trying to sell his recipe. But was always got rejected. He went to 1009 restaurants but got rejected every time!!! But he didn't lose his patience... At last in 1952, Sanders franchised his recipe to Pete Harman restaurants in South Salt Lake, Utah. With the introduction of this new recipe, the sales of the restaurant grew by 75%!!! Don Anderson, a sign painter hired by Harman gave the first name to his recipe... And that is 'Kentucky Fried Chicken'... As the sales of Harman grew, several restaurants began to franchise Sanders' recipe. Sanders got $0.04 per chicken... But this much money was not enough to support his family. As a result, Claudia and Sanders established a restaurant and company which had its headquarters in Shelbyville in 1959. For the franchising of his company and recipe, they had to travel a lot. As a result, Sanders slept in the back of his car. Soon, KFC was a success... Many restaurants began to franchise KFC and the company opened its first international outlet in Canada, followed by UK, Mexico and Jamaica. Sanders made a patent of his recipe in 1962 and trademarked the phrase, "It's Finger-Lickin' Good!!!" in 1963. Soon the company opened in 600 locations. The workload of the emerging company was not born by Sanders. In 1964, then 73 years old, He sold KFC for $2 million ( $16.5 million today) to John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey. Sanders became a salaried brand ambassador. He was the face hero behind the company advertising.

LATER LIFE...

Sanders spent his remaining of the life advertising for KFC. He began to dress in a unique style... He Bagan to grow a goatee and wearing a black frock coat (later switching to a white suit) and a string tie. He always was in the same get-up whenever he was in public. He bleached his moustache and goatee to match his white hair. 

SANDERS IN HIS UNIQUE CLOTHING

Though this was his happiest time, his end was near.

Sanders was diagnosed with acute leukaemia in June 1980. He died in Louisville, Kentucky on December 16, 1980, at the age of 90... Sanders was active in public gathering until one month before his death. He was buried in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, in his unique and his style clothing. 

LEARNING FROM SANDERS...

As you can see from Sanders' life story, he did numerous jobs and failed many times. He didn't have any settled life. He had not done anything till the age of 65. But he didn't lose his confidence. There are many things which we can learn from Colonel Harland Sanders. Some of these are:

• You have to go through failures to get success.
• Age is just a number... You are never too old or to get success... 

• The past doesn't define your present.
• A quitter never wins, a winner never quits.
• Don't be afraid to start something small.
• Giving up is only the path to failure.

Even though Sanders is no more with us, but his legacy and his inspiration will be always with us.

Hope that this short biography on Sanders must have inspired you. So get up and follow your passion to achieve success.

In the end, I would just like to say, "Enjoy Reading"!

 

- Dibyaansh Pradhan