About KFC
You are here:
- home
- About KFC
The KFC Story
In the mid 1930s, Colonel Harland Sanders bought a motel and café in Corbin, Kentucky. Despite having tried his hand at several kinds of work – from railroading to operating a steam-powered ferryboat - Colonel Sanders loved to cook and was always experimenting with various combinations of seasonings.
So even though there was nothing new about fried chicken, the Colonel found a way to combine 11 herbs and spices with flour to create a finger licking’ good coating.
The Colonel’s business and reputation both flourished at a time when most businesses were struggling, but he was forced to sell his burgeoning restaurant when a new Interstate Highway was built through his property. So, at the age of 66, Colonel Sanders found himself travelling the country with his special seasonings, his pressure-cooker and a new plan: franchises.
The Colonel visited small, independent restaurants throughout the US to teach them not only how to cook Kentucky Fried Chicken, but also his values: despite taking just a five-cent royalty on every chicken sold, the Colonel would go into dining rooms and do what he called “Coloneling” – making sure that the customers were happy. With most of his deals sealed with only a handshake, there were 838 Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises across the United States by 1964.
The Colonel was now in his 70s and Kentucky Fried Chicken had grown larger than he could realistically handle, so he sold the operation to businessmen John Y Brown Jnr and Jack Massey for $2 million. But there were strict conditions: Colonel Sanders became Quality Controller and his image stayed on as the company trademark.
Colonel Harland D Sanders was 90 years old when he died in December 1980. Although he is no longer with us, his philosophies and values of hard work and excellent customer service are, and will always be a part of KFC.
KFC in the UK and Ireland
The Kentucky Fried Chicken concept was introduced to Britain in 1965 when the first store opened in Preston. Many more followed and in 1986, following the worldwide acquisition of KFC by PepsiCo, it was announced that the British operation, KFC GB Ltd had become a joint venture – a company owned by Trust house Forte and PepsiCo.
In January 1997, PepsiCo Inc. announced the spin-off of its quick service restaurants into an independent restaurant company. Tricon Global Restaurants and Tricon Restaurants International were founded and KFC became part of the Tricon group, the world’s largest restaurant group with restaurants in nearly 100 countries in the world. Combined with Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, there are nearly 30,000 restaurants worldwide. In 2002 Tricon changed it’s name to YUM! Brand Inc.
Despite these changes in ownership, the strength of the KFC brand has seen the expansion of the UK & Ireland restaurant network to its current level of over 700 locations, some company operated and some franchised. The achievement of excellent restaurant standards has also resulted in the British operation acting as a training base for many of the new KFC restaurants operating throughout Europe.
Kentucky Fried Facts
- KFC were the first US quick-service restaurant to come to the UK.
- There are currently over 700 KFC outlets in the UK and Ireland, with many new openings planned every year.
- KFC’s original funding was the Colonel’s $105 Social Security cheque - the rest is history!
- Colonel Sanders’ first meals were served to hungry travellers visiting his service station in Corbin, Kentucky in 1930. He didn’t have a restaurant, but served meals at his own dining table in the living quarters of the Corbin service station.
- The secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices was first developed in 1939. The same recipe is still used across the world today.
- It really is a secret recipe, locked away in a vault in Louisville, Kentucky. Only a handful of people know the multi-million dollar recipe and they have signed strict confidentiality contracts. Not even the spice companies that mix the secret blend of 11 herbs & spices know the complete recipe.
- Each year KFC uses some 202 million pounds of breading flour in its famous coating. If all this flour was loaded into 25 pound bags it would take 3,667 articulated lorries to transport it all at once!
