History of KFC
Branding himself "Colonel Sanders", the founder became a prominent figure of American cultural history, and his image remains widely used in KFC advertising.
has proven to be a more focused owner than Pepsi, and although KFC's number of outlets has declined in the US, the company has continued to grow in Asia, South America, and Africa.
[1] After leaving the family home at age 13, Sanders pursued several professions including railroad worker and insurance salesman, with mixed success.
[3] In 1930, he took over a Shell filling station on U.S. Route 25 at the point it split into east and west spurs[4] outside North Corbin, a small city on the edge of the Appalachian Mountains.
[2] By June, he had converted a storeroom into a small eating area using his own dining table, serving meals such as steaks and country ham to travelers.
[1][19] In 1952, he had already successfully franchised his chicken recipe to Pete Harman of South Salt Lake, Utah, the operator of one of the most prominent restaurants in the city.
[19] In 1957, Harman bundled 14 pieces of chicken, five bread rolls and a pint of gravy into a cardboard bucket, and offered it to families as "a complete meal" for US$3.50 (around US$30 in 2014).
[21] He first test-trialed the packaging as a favor to Sanders, who had called on behalf of a Denver franchisee who did not know what to do with 500 cardboard buckets he had bought from a traveling salesman.
[1][25] Thomas developed the rotating red bucket sign, was an early advocate of the take-out concept that Harman had pioneered, and introduced a bookkeeping form that Sanders rolled out across the entire KFC chain.
[25][27] In 1956, Sanders moved the company headquarters from Corbin to Shelbyville, Kentucky, which offered superior transport links to distribute his spices, pressure cookers, take-out cartons and advertising material to franchisees.
[37] The roll-out of freestanding stores accelerated the company's growth as outlets exclusively selling fried chicken proved to be more appealing to potential franchisees.
[19] Despite selling the company, Sanders retained significant moral authority over executives and franchisees and made his feelings clear when he disagreed with corporate decisions.
[39] KFC was forced to renegotiate with Sanders regarding the Canadian activities, as he owned $1.5 million worth of stock and was using it to prevent Massey from listing the company publicly until his points of issue were addressed.
[36] When he was promoted to regional manager, Dave Thomas complained that the company had become too "corporate", sent him "a lot of Mickey Mouse memos" and that Brown lacked motivational skill.
[57] He began to complain of the company's declining food quality to the media: The outburst prompted a KFC franchisee in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to unsuccessfully attempt to sue Sanders for libel.
[61] Sanders continued to attack Heublein publicly, and in 1976 complained that the company "doesn't know what it's doing" and that it was "downright embarrassing" to have his image associated with their poor quality product.
[23][65] By branding himself as "Colonel Sanders", Harland became a prominent figure of American cultural history, and his image remains widely used in KFC advertising.
Reynolds divested KFC in order to pay off debt related to its recent purchase of Nabisco and to concentrate on its tobacco and packaged food business.
[74] KFC management had previously given franchisees the freedom to sell any soft drinks they wanted, but PepsiCo stated that it hoped it could convince them to stock Pepsi products.
[74] Before the takeover, only 1,000 of the 6,500 KFC outlets sold Pepsi cola, and PepsiCo switched 1,800 company-owned stores to their own soft drinks with immediate effect.
[85] Cranor also expanded the chain into non-traditional locations, beginning with a 150 sq ft limited menu kiosk at a General Motors assembly plant in Dayton, Ohio.
[99] By 1993, KFC was the leading Western fast food chain in South Korea, China, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, and was second to McDonald's in most other Asian markets, including Japan and Singapore.
[105] In 1996 the company repaired its relationship with its franchisees by immediately dropping the most contentious of the contract terms that had been proposed by chairman John Cranor five years previously.
[106] The 1976 contract was restored, including the 1.5 mile outlet exclusivity zone, while the parent company gained greater control over national advertising.
[21] Since 2003, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has protested KFC's choice of poultry suppliers worldwide with the Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign.
[114] PETA have held thousands of demonstrations, sometimes in the home towns of KFC executives, and CEO David Novak was soaked in fake blood by a protester.
[119] From 2002 to 2005, KFC experienced three years of weak sales, when underinvestment in product development left the brand looking "tired and poorly positioned", according to Restaurant Research, an independent consultancy.
[111] A roast chicken product line introduced in 2004 proved unsuccessful, and the worldwide avian flu scare of 2005 temporarily decreased sales by as much as 40 percent.
KFC also began a makeover of the US brand image, bringing back the full "Kentucky Fried Chicken" name at some outlets and returning portraits of Colonel Sanders to prominence.
[130] In July 2014, Chinese authorities closed down the Shanghai operations of the OSI Group, amidst allegations that it had supplied KFC with expired meat.
