The Rostik's brand ceases to exist. Interesting fate of Colonel Sanders

History of KFC: how a colonel from Kentucky sold chicken.

Probably everyone knows such a chain of fast food restaurants as KFC. This is one of the oldest fast food restaurant chains in the United States. It is famous for its fried chicken all over the world. Last time When I visited KFC, the cashier made several disparaging remarks about the McDonald's opposite, noting that " unlike them, we have natural products!».
Well, there is nothing to argue about. Of course, fried food is also, to put it mildly, not the healthiest, but KFC employees still have a reason to prick McDonald's. In general, if you draw any parallels between McDonald's and KFC, you can see a lot of similarities. For example, the fact that the founder of the company was successful when he was already well over 50 years old. Prior to that, he led a rather miserable life. And Harlan Sanders was already dying as an honorary colonel of the city of Kentucky (the rank of colonel is somewhat similar to the title of honorary citizen). The development of the network also went according to the franchising scheme. The company was often attacked by society. If McDonald's has been criticized for unhealthy food, then KFC has been criticized for killing chickens. I think that the history of this company deserves attention.

6 years of education does not mean that you will be a loser all your life.

On September 9, 1890, Garlan Sanders, the future founder of KFC, was born. I must say that Sanders had a difficult childhood. Firstly, he was far from the only child in a family that did not live very richly. His father worked part-time doing some small assignments of farmers in the city of Henryville, where the family actually lived. The mother did not work, as she had to sit with the children, which was the norm for that time. Even if the father could not earn enough money.
The problems began when Garlan's father died. This happened when the future founder of KFC had not even completed the 6th grade of school. His life changed dramatically. First, the mother goes to work in order to somehow feed the family. Garlan, on the other hand, has to play the role of a nanny and take care of his younger brother and sister. This fact became the key in his life. Since these circumstances contributed to the development of Sanders as a culinary specialist (at the same time, all the relatives quickly began to note that the little boy had a real talent in this matter).

Talent was talent, but there was no time left for school. As a result, Garlan finished his studies already in the 6th grade. Once and forever. At the age of 6, he goes to work on a farm in the city of Greenwood. By that time, the mother had married a second time - the family had some money, but free time disappeared, which could be devoted to Garlan. He was not upset, but decided to take fate into his own hands and go to work in another city. True, connect your life with agriculture the young man did not want to, and soon decided to change jobs. At the age of 15, he got a job as a tram conductor, and a year later he was sent to the US Army to serve as a private. And not just anywhere, but to Cuba! True, a military career did not appeal to Garlan, and in less than a year he left the troops. This time he found a more or less permanent job - he got a job as a fireman in a US railroad company.
I must say that Garlan finally had normal money on which to live. A stable income prompted the young man to an important event in his life - he proposed to a girl named Claudia, with whom he lived his entire subsequent life. After the wedding, the life of the Sanders family was not easy - Garlan was fired from his position as a fireman almost instantly. Over the following years, he tried a lot of other professions, but never found a single one that he could hold out on. long time. In such a situation, any marriage would be on the verge, but not the Sanders. The wife endured all the problems of her husband steadfastly, and until the last she believed in him. As it turned out, not in vain.

And he knows how to cook chickens!

By the age of 40, Garlan managed to change several dozen professions. He traded tires, was a stoker, a military man, a conductor, helped farmers, worked as a peddler and much, much more. It would seem that the typical fate of a person who has completed only 6 classes. At one time, Sanders tried to get an education by enrolling in law courses. But for unknown reasons, he never finished them.
However, by the time Garlan was in his 40s, he had little capital accumulated over the years. This money had to be managed somehow. For a long time, Sanders was out of sorts. Most of his life has flown by, and he is still a small man who has achieved nothing, does not have enough money to live in pleasure. He was disappointed in life. And, of course, he wanted to change it. For starters, stop exchanging uninteresting work for him. And in 1930, in Kentucky, he opens his auto repair shop. An important point should be noted here - Garlan seriously considered the location of his workshop, choosing the best place for it - the side of the 25th federal highway. On this road, people traveled to Florida from the northern states. The flow of customers was endless.

Soon, Sanders decides that he needs to make a small canteen for customers who are waiting for all the operations on their car to go through (it should be noted that the Sanders workshop performed the most simple work such as changing engine oil, tires, etc.). There was no special place for the dining room, and therefore Garlan allocated one workshop room for it (his family lived in several others). This room contained a dining table and 6 chairs. Sanders cooked food right in the home kitchen. Soon, his auto repair shop became famous throughout Kentucky. With his fried chicken. She received the name: "Kentucky Fried Chicken by Harlan Sanders". All clients noted the quality of his seasoning, which he prepared from 11 different spices. Life began to improve.
In order to increase his income, Garlan buys a pressure cooker. This was the time when this type of pans only appeared. One of the first people to appreciate the benefits of pressure cookers was Harlan Sanders. Whereas chicken used to take around 30 minutes to cook, this time has now been reduced to 15. This meant that customers did not have to wait so long for their food, which contributed to an increase in the number of orders.

Significant event in Sanders' life came in 1935, when Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon awarded Garlan the title of "Kentucky Colonel" for services to the state. Indeed, they were great - after all, all over the district they were talking about the "national dish" of the state from Harlan Sanders.
At this time, Sanders realizes that he needs to refocus his business, moving away from the subject of a car workshop. In 37 he opens a motel Sanders Court & Cafe, which was also a fast food restaurant in its own right. True, you can not compare the fast food restaurant McDonald's and Sanders Court & Cafe, as they were incomparable. Still, Garlan spent about 10-15 minutes preparing the order. So it was not a full-fledged fast food.
Already a colonel, Harlan Sanders began to dress in classic clothes - a white suit and a black bow tie. This is how it is depicted on the KFC logos. This image quickly entered the hearts of ordinary Americans who fell in love with Sanders' small establishment. During these years, Garlan had as many orders and money as he had never had in his entire life. He felt successful.
Of course, minor problems arose from time to time - with supplies, technical ones, once even the building in which the Sanders motel was located burned down. There was money, and therefore it was already rebuilt again, and resumed its work a few months after the incident. In addition, the state authorities tried to help Garlan, since his chicken was a Kentucky landmark. At least for other Americans.

This is the end, my friend?

But life has dealt a blow to Sanders. In the 1950s, the construction of the 75th federal highway was completed. Sanders' restaurant was out of sight of Americans passing from the north to Florida. The number of clients has dropped dramatically. Once successful business rolled down. Sanders was already in his 60s when he again lost his financial balance. It cannot be said that, owning his own restaurant, Garlan was considered a rich man. No. But he certainly wasn't in need. To retire, especially without money, Garlan Sanders did not dare.
On reflection, he came to the conclusion that he could sell his chickens to other restaurants. So, his numerous trips to other restaurants in America began, where he talked about the chicken cooking system “according to Garlan Sanders”. And about your condiment. It took a long time before he was able to find the first customer. Under the terms of the agreement, Sanders received only 5 cents for each of his chickens at each restaurant. Not bad, considering that order volumes have been constantly growing. Needless to say, in the early 60s, Garlan Sanders' clients were several hundred US restaurants.
Already after 4 years Kentucky Fried Chicken reaches the peak of fame, and the old colonel decides to sell the company to private investors. Under the terms of the deal, he received $2 million in cash and a position as a company representative (the face of the brand, in fact), for which he was paid about $250,000 a year. He only needed to meet with the press, clients, employees, in general - to conduct marketing of the head, which, however, he was no longer.

In 1980, at the age of 90, Harlan Sanders passed away. In recent years, he devoted a lot to himself - he traveled, played golf, ran his own restaurant Claudia Sanders' Dinner House with his wife. He was already disappointed in KFC, because he believed that in the pursuit of low price and speed, the owners compromised on the quality of the chickens. However, the history of the company did not end with the death of the colonel ...
Moreover, at one time it was even acquired by the famous Pepsi Co. Today, KFC is owned by Yum! Brands. The network of these restaurants currently operates in more than 50 countries around the world. At the same time, the company prefers to use a co-branding strategy. For example, in Russia, the KFC chain is represented together with the well-known Rostik brand.
At the moment, the company employs about 24 thousand employees, and the income for last year amounted to just over half a billion dollars. Not bad, although not in the way that KFC would like. The company has really serious problems with Greenpeace. In addition, in our time, many people have realized how harmful it is to eat fried foods. They take care of their health and appearance, and therefore are not eager to visit KFC. Yes, and Colonel Sanders on the company logo, which was a kind of symbol of that generation, is little known today. The company needs to change. This is understood by her leadership. Perhaps the coming years will show how they coped with this task.

This man is the real embodiment of the "American dream", dreams of a beautiful life, wealth and power that everyone can achieve. The name of Colonel Sanders does not speak as loudly as his portrait - almost every person anywhere in the world has seen his face. Because Colonel Garland David Sanders (or “Kentucky Fried Chicken”) is the founder of the KFC fast food restaurant chain.

Harlad Sanders was born in 1890 in Henryville, Indiana. He was not even 6 years old when he lost his father. The mother had to work day and night to somehow feed herself and her son, and Sanders was entrusted with all the housework. Including, it was also cooking, which the boy loved very much. Soon his mother took new novel and then got married. The boy's relationship with his stepfather did not work out, it came to beatings and humiliation. Then Sanders decided to leave his home and moved to his uncle in the city of New Alban. Fortunately, the uncle received the boy with all the warmth of his heart.

In the seventh grade, Sanders was kicked out of school for poor performance. He was never diligent in his studies, often truant, preferring to earn extra money instead of lessons. He washed cars, worked as a loader and even sold his own pies at the local market. So the guy wasn't too upset when he was expelled. He decided it was time to start adulthood. At that time he was 12 years old ...

In 1906, Sanders made the decision to join the US National Army. At that time, there were unrest in Cuba - Cuban people was against the American occupation, and the United States began recruiting into a volunteer army, which was transferred to Cuba to ensure control over the occupied state. Sanders was only 15 years old at the time, so he had to forge documents in which he changed his date of birth. He was assigned to the division of military logistics, it was assumed that he would keep inventory records. But the young fighter was not entrusted with this lucrative position, and until the end of his service, Sanders was assigned to the stable. His duties included caring for the horses and cleaning the stalls. He had to rake horse manure with his hands - either because of a lack of tools, or because of the bullying of his colleagues. In the army, Sanders caught some kind of tropical infection, lost 20 kg (a third of his weight), ended up in the hospital, but recovered and served his due date.

By the way, Sanders did not receive the rank of colonel in the army - he was never even a junior officer there. The title of "Colonel of Kentucky" Sanders received from the hands of Governor Ruby Lafon for outstanding service to public life in the state.

Demobilized, Sanders returned to his homeland. He wandered around the cities and states of the United States, like a tumbleweed, never stayed anywhere for a long time and tried a bunch of professions that he met on his way. He worked as a blacksmith's assistant, washed trains at a railway station, worked as an intercity tram conductor, a loader in a furniture factory, a mechanic in an auto repair shop, a ferry captain, a director of a tire shop, and even a trainee in law courses at a local court. It was such an American Ostap Bender, who took on everything he could reach, and was not afraid of anything. But luck was not on his side...

When Sanders was 18, he got married. He had a son who died in infancy and two daughters, Margaret and Mildred. But when Sanders was fired from another job, his wife left him, taking the children. Later, the brother-in-law wrote a letter to the future millionaire in which he said that his sister should not have married such a loser who could not hold on to any job.

In Chicago, Sanders entered extramural La Salle University is the largest educational institution for business representatives. He studied, oddly enough, well. Despite moving and vicissitudes of life, Sanders completed his studies and received a diploma. During his studies, he continued to work - first as a firefighter in Tennessee, and when he was fired from his job for fighting, he moved to Arkansas. He worked as a farmer, a peddler, a miner, a locomotive stoker, an insurance agent - for which he just did not undertake. At the same time, Sanders noted that none of the professions that he tried brought him pleasure. Only Sanders recalled his work as a stoker with warmth. At this job, fate pushed him against the main woman of his life - Claudia Price, who became his wife and met old age with him.

And so, when Sanders was 40 years old, and he had accumulated a small amount of capital, he decides to open his own business - a car repair shop. Far from a young age (even by today's standards, Sanders was no longer a boy) did not bother the newly minted entrepreneur. He chose a very good place for his workshop - the workshop was located on the side of the 25th federal highway, along this road people got to Florida from the northern states. The flow of customers was consistently large. To increase income, the entrepreneur decided to open a dining room for clients in one of the rooms of the workshop. There was only one table with 6 seats, and food for visitors was prepared right in the home kitchen. Soon, the Sanders auto repair shop became famous throughout the state of Kentucky ... for its fried chicken!

The owner of the cafe himself developed a unique recipe for cooking chicken under pressure with eleven spices and seasonings. Pressure cookers were just coming into vogue then, and Sanders was one of the first to appreciate this innovation. If it took about half an hour to fry a chicken in a pan, then in a pressure cooker this period was halved - which means twice as many satisfied customers!

The popularity of his fried chicken has grown so much that this dish has become known as the "national dish of Kentucky", the hallmark of the state. In 1935, Sanders received the title of "Colonel of Kentucky", which stirred up his hitherto suppressed vanity. And so he opens the Sanders Court and Café motel with a restaurant with 142 seats.

Business business went up the hill. People liked the way he cooked chicken. Sanders kept the recipe for his signature dish a closely guarded secret. People kept trying to figure out the composition of his signature sauce of 11 spices and crispy breading, which made the taste of chicken so unusual. At the time the Colonel created his recipe, standard poultry seasonings included black pepper, allspice, marjoram, ginger, nutmeg, thyme, cloves, thyme, and sage. Perhaps the colonel also used these spices. True, no one knows the exact composition of the seasoning mixture. Even KFC management claims that the original recipe is known only to a few members of the company's management and is kept in a cache. In KFC establishments, spices are supplied in the form of a ready-made mixture, so even employees do not know its exact composition.

And hit again! In 1952, the government opens a new federal highway, I-75, and the flow of customers plummets. At that time, Sanders was already 62 years old. He decides to sell the restaurant, but now its location has become completely unfortunate, and no one wanted to buy it. I had to put the restaurant under the hammer in order to pay off creditors. The Colonel again lost everything he had so briefly - his wealth, his business, even his house. The only thing that shone for him was a ridiculous pension of $ 105 ...

But Sanders didn't give up. He began to travel around the country, trying to sell his fried chicken recipe to restaurant owners, but they only laughed at the "out of his mind old man." Sanders traveled to 1,006 restaurants and received 1,006 rejections until he met Pete Herman, a Salt Lake City restaurateur. He saw potential in the colonel's idea and opened a new restaurant, Kentucky Fried Chicken, KFC's first restaurant. Then it appeared famous logo“KFC” is the smiling face of a colonel with glasses and a ribbon tie. Over the next 50 years, the logo has not changed its essence and has undergone only minor changes - for example, the colonel's face has “lost a little” over time.

The restaurant was destined for success. In the first year alone, 75% of the restaurant's profits came from Colonel Sanders' signature fried chicken. After 8 years, the colonel sold KFC for $2 million. The deal extended only to the United States - in other countries, the colonel could open his restaurants. And the very next year, Sanders opens a new KFC in Canada, where he moves with his family. In the same year, the first "KFC" was opened in the UK.

Colonel Sanders' portrait is part of KFC's corporate identity - it is printed on the company logo and on every package of chicken prepared according to his recipe. This portrait was made after the colonel's money began to flow. Having become rich, Sanders began to sculpt himself an aristocratic image. He grew a bushy beard and mustache. In public places, he began to appear only in white shirts, with a black ribbon tie, with a cane and in a mandatory white suit: in winter - woolen, and in summer - linen or cotton. Do you remember that Ostap Bender in The Golden Calf considered it a symbol of wealth to walk along the promenades of Rio de Janeiro in white pants and a white shirt? Apparently, Colonel Sanders agreed with Bender. The difference is that the colonel also managed to do it.

Having become rich, Sanders joined the Masonic Lodge and even rose to the 33rd degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The tombstone of the colonel depicts a Masonic square and compasses.

Harland Sanders died at the age of 90 from leukemia. A few years later, KFC ran a commercial featuring an actor who looked so much like the colonel that his family was horrified by superstition. Looking at this advertisement, relatives could not get rid of the idea that the colonel had resurrected.

Colonel Sanders was an incredible adventurer who did not succumb to any blows of fate, tearing out his happiness with his teeth. Without finishing school, he was able to finish the university - because he believed that he needed it. Not being an adult, he joined the army - because he wanted to. With little management experience or business skills, he started his own business at the age of 40 and prospered. And then, having lost everything at the age of 62, he did not give up and continued to fight, and in the end he got even more than he expected when he was successful. His story teaches perseverance and the ability not to give up under any circumstances. After all, success is not around the corner, it is in your head!

Colonel Sanders (founder of KFC, Garland David Sanders) is the founder of a large well-known fast food chain KFC (Kentucky Fired Chicken). The most recognizable and widespread signature dish of the KFC chain is breaded fried chicken with the addition of many aromatic spices and spices.

The portrait of the founder of the famous fast food chain KFC is traditionally installed in each establishment as a stylized outline of the company. The success story of Colonel Sanders is full of amazing events that can only happen to strong in spirit person. This entrepreneur is a real hard worker and a blacksmith of his own happiness. Colonel Sanders, his story is an example of how in difficult life situations don't give up. His life credo is to run towards your goals and dreams with an unprincipled zeal for success.

Colonel Sanders: biography

Garland David Sanders was born September 9, 1890 in Henryville, Indiana, United States of America. His father, Wilbur David Sanders, was the heir to a wealthy Presbyterian (one of the directions of the Protestant faith, as well as church organization) family, and his mother's name was Margaret Ann Sanders ( maiden name Dunlevy). Unfortunately, young Garland lost his father when he was six years old. Mother worked day and night to somehow feed her family. In view of this, the boy constantly remained at home alone and was responsible for cooking. Garland quickly became addicted to cooking, it was difficult to convince him that the kitchen was the lot of women's concerns. Who knew that culinary skills would determine the future fate of the young man, and he would become a big millionaire. In his studies, Sanders Jr. did not shine at all with his mind - the guy constantly skipped classes and refused to perform homework. Soon, in 1902, he was expelled from school, never allowing him to finish the seventh grade. Garland was not at all upset about this, because he dreamed of living an adult life and earning money. The twelve-year-old boy managed to work in a lot of places - he washed cars, worked as a loader at the local market, and also sold his own pies to passers-by in local neighborhoods.

Young Garland runs away from home

A few years after the death of her husband, Margaret Ann Sanders (mother) starts a new affair with a man and soon marries him. Family changes for Sanders Jr. the best way- stepfather constantly beat and humiliated him. Without thinking twice, the guy runs away from home and moves to the city of New Alban, which is located in the same state (Indiana). His own uncle lived here, who received Garland with warmth.

Early start to adulthood - 15-year-old would-be millionaire joins US Army with fake ID

In 1906, heavy military and political events unfolded on the island of the same name and the state of Cuba. Cubans protested against the occupation by American troops. The United States Department of America decided to organize a campaign for voluntary entry into the ranks of the national army in order to prevent popular unrest in the controlled state. At this time, Sanders decides that he needs to become a military man in any way, but the guy has only recently turned fifteen years old. Thinking about how to deceive everyone and start serving the homeland, Garland forges his own documents with simple manipulations, where he indicates his age. Oddly enough, but the clever Sanders' scam was successful - the guy became a soldier in the national army of the United States of America. He was assigned to the division of military logistics. Initially, the guy was supposed to monitor logistics, as well as keep inventory records in the supply of ammunition. However, no one asked him to do this. As a result, a dubious alternative was found for him: due to his short stature and frail muscles, he was assigned to the army stable to remove manure. It is stated in his autobiography in the following way: "All I did in the service was shoveling horse manure with my bare hands and watching the hygiene of these long-legged animals."

During the service, Garland caught some kind of climatic disease, due to which he lost 20 kilograms. Having lost literally a third of his weight, Sanders lay in a military hospital for some time, but quickly recovered. As a result, Garland finished his service with honors. The demobilized Sanders sailed on a ferry by sea to the port of New Orleans. When he reached the first railroad fork, he boarded a freight train that was heading along the Mississippi River. In the end, the guy got to the city of St. Louis (Missouri).

Alternative version of the Sanders biography after the army

There is another version of events after demobilization: some sources indicate that Colonel Sanders, upon arrival on the continent, drove to Alabama, where he immediately found work as an assistant in a blacksmith shop. Here, he didn’t work for anyone in the future - he washed rail rolling stock at a railway station, worked as an intercity tram conductor, and was also a steam locomotive stoker, a loader at a furniture factory, an insurance agent, a mechanic in a car repair shop, a ferry captain, a manager of a tire fitting enterprise, and even an intern courses in law at the local court. Colonel Sanders noted that none of his above jobs brought him pleasure. Feeling the charm of many professions in his own skin, he realized that he needed to do what he loved - to develop the restaurant business.

Studying at the university can always be combined with work

A few years later, Colonel Sanders moved to live in Tennessee. Here he got a job as an ordinary worker in the department fire safety and entered the LaSalle University in the correspondence department in the city of Chicago. Garland skillfully combined study with work. To great surprise, he received high marks, and also successfully closed all the exams. When he worked in the fire department, he had a conflict with one of the employees - there was a fight, as a result of which Sanders was fired from his position. Then he decides to move to the city of Arkansas and get a job. new job(here he worked for some time at the mine, and then got a job on a farm). Despite this, Sanders successfully completed his studies at the university.

Happy moments of life: meeting his future wife Claudia and the first business

Colonel Sanders (photo below) always mentioned that in his difficult life he constantly earned his bread in an unloved profession.

And this is true, because his professions were not the best. However, he received the greatest happiness when he worked as a stoker of a steam locomotive heating apparatus, because at that time he met his love - future wife Claudius. Being, roughly speaking, nobody, he dared to propose to her, to which he received an immediate “yes”. The young wife inspired him with love and care every day, so Sanders always considered himself a happy person. After several years working on a steam locomotive, Garland got a job as a mechanic in an auto repair shop. And this profession has also become no less fateful than the previous one.

He was no longer a young boy. Forty-year-old Sanders was filled with ambition and a desire to achieve more in order to live in pleasure with his wife. A few years later, he opens his own business - an auto repair shop on the twenty-fifth highway, where many long-distance and passenger cars from the northern states of the United States often rush through. This business began to be successful, because the prudent Garland justified his auto repair shop in a profitable (from a marketing point of view) location where there is constant demand. A lot of money began to appear in the Sanders family. It is worth noting that the colonel turned out to be a very enterprising person - he showed himself not only as successful businessman but also as a talented forecaster. Garland (Colonel Sanders) came to the conclusion that his visitors are hungry tourists or truckers who come from the far north of the country. Based on this, he decides to open a small dining room here, where at first he prepared various dishes himself. Already at that time future millionaire developed his own unique breaded fried chicken recipe. Word had begun to circulate around the area that Highway 25 was preparing some incredible chicken.

Titled "Kentucky Colonel Sanders"

The recipes of Colonel Sanders were kept secret, and the people in his institution only increased. Two well-established businesses, a canteen and an auto repair shop, brought incredible income to his family. Life began to improve gradually. In 1935, the Governor of Kentucky honored Garland with the title of "Kentucky Colonel Sanders" for making his signature dish a state treasure. Everyone was excited about the new "national dish" in Kentucky.

In the early 50s, Colonel Sanders developed his own image - he grew a graceful beard and neat mustache, creating the image of an aristocratic pedant-professor. Also, his calling card was a white tuxedo. All this was complemented by a neat ribbon tie. In this form, he constantly appeared in the light. Rumor has it that Sanders had a whole set of identical white suits, there were about 50 of them - for all seasons. Garland did not buy clothes in shopping centers and clothing stores, but liked to order suits in the atelier.

Serious business failures - bankruptcy

Sanders' business has been a success for just over fifteen years, constantly improving his recipes and surprising his customers with delicious food. At the age of 62, Colonel Sanders failed when years of construction of another newer and larger highway ended a few kilometers away. The businessman has lost 90 percent of potential buyers. At this time, Garland was greatly depressed, because such a fate in retirement age he could not foresee. However, the future millionaire and founder of CFS, Colonel Sanders, did not give up and continued to fight against the pitfalls of fate.

"Kentucky Fried Chicken" comes to the rescue again

While he was thinking about how to make a living further, Garland came up with the idea that his unique fried chicken recipe could be presented to several large restaurants and asked for it. cash reward or a contract that would include a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of his signature dish. Colonel Sanders collected his thoughts, filled his suitcase with the necessary things and began to walk around the state's large restaurants, stating only one phrase: "I cook a dish of fried chicken that tastes better than you." Such a bold and arrogant statement was perceived with contempt - Garland was refused everywhere, escorting the businessman with an abundance of impartial words addressed to him.

The "Kentucky Colonel" did not become upset, but only continued to distribute offers to all catering establishments. He's been turned down a little over a thousand times. I had to wait quite some time to find the first customer. Gradually, his signature dish began to spread throughout the country, and already potential businessmen themselves turned to the colonel with a request for an agreement. At first, in the terms of the contract, it was said that for each portion sold, Colonel Sanders would receive 5 cents (in the future, the interest rate only increased). The monopoly of "breaded wings" already by the beginning of the 60s brought fabulous money. Hundreds of restaurants called KFC began to open all over the states of America. Colonel Sanders for a long time could not believe that he managed to surpass his goals and himself, especially at that age! From now on, he felt incredibly happy man, because he found his calling. His talent and dedication made the audience believe in success.

Sale of KFC

When Colonel Sanders (pictured below) was celebrating his 70th birthday, the idea came to him that it was time to retire. Soon a successful businessman announces the sale of KFC. This news was immediately picked up by investors. As a result, Garland sells his offspring for two million dollars. In addition, he will receive $250,000 a year as a brand ambassador (a stylized portrait of Colonel Sanders). Now his activity is that he needs to “shine his face” everywhere and represent the popular KFC brand. A successful retired millionaire must deal with the press and be the head of the company from a marketing point of view. By right, Sanders was no longer the owner of a fast food chain, but he no longer needed this at all.

End of Colonel Sanders story

On December 16, 1980, 90-year-old Garland David Sanders died. He lived a difficult, but happy life. At retirement age, he reached incredible heights in business, which allowed him to live his last years in full prosperity. The Colonel loved to travel, play golf, and also visit his favorite restaurant called Claudia Sander's Dinner House, which he gave to his beloved wife. That was Colonel Sanders. History shows it beautiful life, which is overflowing with happy moments and long-awaited joy.

A few months before his death, he said following words: “I have always strived to make a lot of money, but I never saw it as a global sense. Why be rich in a graveyard? There you will no longer be able to manage your money. Many people are unaware that I gave most of the money I earned to donations to orphans, and also sponsored many churches. These quotes by Colonel Sanders reveal the full meaning of his warm and kind soul. This man left behind a huge mark, he will be remembered for a very long time. The grave of Garland David Sanders is located in Louisville.

Colonel Sanders - Trotsky

Have you noticed the similarities between these two people? It is obvious! Quite often, the names Sanders - Trotsky are mentioned, creating a lot of "memes" and "demotivators".

There is a story about this story: “Not many people know that in 1913 members of the American Socialist Party gave Leon Trotsky a US passport in the name of Harland Sanders. This was originally done symbolically, as a joke about the similarity of the two people. However, in 1935, Lev Davydovich used this document when he fled from Norway to the United States (due to diplomatic pressure from the USSR). The American authorities made an exceptional compromise for the Bolshevik and allowed him to enter the country with only one condition - not to engage in political activities in the United States. The condition was met, but Trotsky in the 60s managed to deploy a whole chain of restaurants called K for Communist, which is identical in abbreviation with the popular fast food KFC. Well, with the imagination of the public, everything is in order ...

May 7, 1931 in the mountain town of Corbin (Kentucky, USA) was unbearable heat. Matt Stewart, the owner of the gas station, was standing on the stairs and painting the concrete wall. He paused for a minute when he heard the sound of an approaching car that appeared to be moving at high speed.

He was driving along the northern road, which led to a rural area known to the locals as "Hell's Half Acre." It was named so because bootleggers here often arranged drinking parties and shootouts, which ended very badly. Stuart squinted, trying to see the approaching car in the dust. With his right hand, which was smeared with paint, he wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead. He assumed that the driver must be angry, armed and going to stop somewhere nearby.

Just in case, he had his pistol ready. The car did slow down nearby, but there were not one, but three armed men in it. "Hey, you, Son of a bitch! the driver shouted. Are you doing it again? A disgruntled car driver used this concrete wall to advertise his gas station, which was in the city, and his competitor, Matt Stewart, once again painted over it. Stuart jumped down the stairs, fired his pistol, and dived for cover behind a concrete wall.

One of the men fell to the ground dead. The driver grabbed the weapon of his fallen comrade and returned fire. Bullets rained down on Stuart. Finally, he yelled, “Don't shoot, Sanders! You killed me". The firefight on the dusty roadside had died down. Stuart lay on the ground, bleeding. He was wounded in the shoulder and thigh. He'll be lucky and survive - unlike the Shell Oil manager lying next to him with a bullet in his chest. This sad meeting could be considered unremarkable, if not for the personality of the driver. The Sanders who fired bullets at Matt Stewart was none other than Garland Sanders, the man who would become known to the world as Colonel Sanders.

He had dark hair and a clean-shaven face. Then no one knew that his future image would one day appear on billboards, buildings and pails of "Kentucky Fried Chicken". Unlike most other famous fast food icons, Colonel Sanders was a real person, and his life story is not as clean and calm as the world famous corporation makes it out to be.

Harland Sanders was born on September 9, 1890, in the farming community of Henryville, Indiana, where men only wore a suit twice in their lives—to their own weddings and funerals. In 1895, when Garland was only five years old, his father, a butcher shop owner, came down with a fever and died a few days later. Garland was raised by his mother, Margaret, a strict Christian who constantly told her children about the dangers of alcohol, tobacco, gambling and whistling on Sundays. At the age of seven, Garland was forced to look after his younger siblings while his mother was at work.

When he was twelve years old, he dropped out of school because he was sick of the mere sight of the English alphabet and mathematical examples. Margaret married a second time; her new husband did not like children and often beat them for any minor reason. A year later, thirteen-year-old Garland packed his meager belongings into a small suitcase and left home to live his life. War In 1906, young Harland Sanders took a job as a conductor in New Albany, Indiana. On the tram, he overheard two passengers discussing the military situation in Cuba. They were army recruiters.

They managed to convince the interested Sanders that military service is his calling. So he decided to go to Cuba on a ship full of people and donkeys. He made it safely to his destination, aside from seasickness. However, when the commander in Cuba found out that Sanders was only sixteen years old, he sent him back to the States. Thus ended the military career of the future colonel. Railroad Six years of education prevented Sanders from finding a decent job, so he got a job at the Southern Railroad, where he worked by scraping ash from steam engines.

Soon, by watching locomotive drivers, he learned to throw coal and learned how to use fuel to achieve maximum efficiency of the steam engine. At the age of eighteen, he changed his occupation and began to fill in for machinists who did not show up for work. He also adopted an extensive vocabulary of swear words from them, which he often used in everyday speech. Whatever the case, Sanders was obsessed with cleanliness. He was very fond of wearing white overalls and cotton gloves of the same color to work. According to him, he returned home without a single spot on his clothes, despite the fact that he worked with coal all day.

It was during this time that Sanders met his beloved Josephine King. After meeting for a while, they decided to get married. As Margaret Sanders, the daughter of Garland and Josephine, later stated, her mother never wanted to have children. However, forty weeks after the first wedding night she gave birth to a girl. A pound of meat Sanders worked for railway some years. His career as a machinist came to an end when he got into a fight with an engineer on a water tower. History is silent about the cause of the conflict, as well as whether the young Sanders spoiled his snow-white form with the blood of the enemy or not. When he was twenty-one, he decided to get an education and began studying law in the office of a Little Rock judge. In the end, he found a job in the world court, where he dreamed of achieving justice for the poor and disadvantaged inhabitants of the region.

Sanders was particularly proud of the cases in which he negotiated aid for black victims of a train crash and ended the courts' practice of pressuring defendants. However, his legal career came to an end when he got into a fight with his client in the courtroom over unpaid legal fees. Sanders spent the next years on independent business.

He founded several businesses that met with mixed success. He lost most of his money when he tried to sell interior lighting systems based on acetylene. Who knew that electricity in the countryside would appear earlier than expected?! However, he managed to make quite a fortune by founding a company that ran much-needed ferry services in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Sanders used the profits to create a Young Entrepreneurs Club in the city. One fine Saturday afternoon, the club announced that all city businesses would be closed due to a picnic in the local park.

Its members put up signs announcing the picnic the day before the event. A customer at a Jeffersonville barbershop was just enjoying a hot shave when a surly Sanders appeared at the door. “Even food and grocery stores, - Sanders said, referring to the owner of the barbershop. “So why are you working then?” “If I want to close my barbershop, I will hang a sign on the door,” the barber replied.

bridge incident

In the late 1920s, the Sanders family moved to Camp Nelson, Kentucky, where Garland got a job as a salesman for the Michelin Tire Company. He was so good at everything that he even became the proud owner of a new top-end car "Maxwell". It was a real beauty that had varnished wood-spoke wheels and a revolutionary six-cylinder engine under the hood.

One frosty November morning in 1926, Sanders was trying to tie tow rope to his new "Maxwell" and the old "Ford Model T1", which also belonged to his family. "Ford Model T1" behaved terribly, especially in the cold season. Sanders' eighteen-year-old son, Garland Jr., got behind the wheel of a Ford Model T1, and Sanders Sr. dragged him towards the bridge over Hickman Creek. It was a "suspension bridge" intended for horse-drawn carriages, however, members of the Sanders family often crossed it in their cars without any problems.

But not at this time. The bridge could not support the weight of two cars, and when they were about halfway across, it broke off. The new "Maxwell" and the old "Ford Model T1" flew into a deep ravine. The younger Sanders escaped with only minor cuts and bruises, the older one received several bruises and lacerations. They made it safely to the house, where Josephine washed her husband's wounds with turpentine and bandaged them. Sanders survived, but now he had neither a job nor a car.

Corbin Stories: Part 1

Harland Sanders some time later found a job managing a Standard Oil gas station in the nearby town of Nicholasville. He earned two cents from every gallon of gasoline. He also engaged in the sale of agricultural machinery for local residents on credit. However, in the late 1920s, a severe drought hit the region, destroying crops and ruining many farmers. Demand for gasoline declined and customers failed to meet their loan obligations. Sanders contacted contacts at Shell Oil and used his reputation to secure a lease on a new location where demand for fuel was higher.

He was given a small plot in the city of Corbin (Kentucky). It was a poor area with no electricity, but it was next to the busy Route 25 highway. The locals called it "Half an acre of Hell." It was here that the shootout took place between Sanders and Matt Stewart, who, by the way, was sentenced to eighteen years in prison for the murder of Shell Oil manager Robert Gibson. Stewart died two years after he ended up in jail, in the arms of a sheriff who, rumor has it, was hired to avenge Gibson's death. One night, in the wee hours, Sanders was awakened by the sound of gunfire outside.

Two bootleggers staged a showdown right in front of his house. He grabbed a gun and went out into the street in his shorts. "Hey, you sons of bitches, drop your guns on the ground!" Sanders shouted. The phrase "sons of bitches" sounded offensive, but the gun in the hands of the one who said it was more convincing. The men obeyed. When the sheriff arrived at the scene to pick up the suspects, he asked Sanders to drive with him to testify. As the car pulled away, Sanders' daughter Margaret ran out of the house screaming, "Father! You forgot your pants! .

Petrol station in Corbin

Corbin Stories: Part 2

In the early 1930s, Sanders began to disappear from home frequently. Josephine and Margaret were suspicious of this. The last time they saw him, he was climbing a mountain on a donkey in the pouring rain. In his hands was an old lard bucket filled with scissors, bandages, antiseptic and rubber gloves. He was on his way to a neighboring Appalachian community, where there were no roads, no electricity, no running water—well, no modern conveniences.

From time to time, Sanders brought food to the families living there, but most of all, these people needed medical help. On that day, he was called because one of the residents of the settlement began to contract. Sanders had three children, so he had some experience with childbirth. However, this case was special. Garland, without explaining anything, burst into the house and grabbed his trusty gun, saying that he needed it as a "means of persuasion." The baby was in the womb in the wrong position. For him to be born, an experienced doctor was needed. However, the man who took the Hippocratic Oath turned out to be very drunk that day and refused to help.

The gun again turned out to be more convincing than words, so a few minutes later the sobered-up doctor was already riding a donkey to the Appalachian settlement. He managed to manually change the position of the fetus, thanks to which the birth went smoothly. The parents of the newborn baby named him Garland. In 1936, Kentucky Governor Rabbi Laffoon awarded Sanders for his services honorary title"Colonel Kentucky".

Corbin Stories: Part 3

According to Garland Sanders, fights and shootouts between bootleggers were commonplace for Corbin. However, it was here that Sanders began to gradually turn into a future celebrity of the fast food world. More than anything, he loved to swear and experiment with cooking. For this reason, he decided to put a large oak table in the middle of the former warehouse and open a cafe near his gas station called "Sanders' Servistation and Café".

Hungry travelers were drawn to large advertisements that Sanders painted on the wall of roadside sheds north and south of the city. Sanders hired attendants. He paid them a living wage and strictly forbade them from taking tips. In the kitchen, Garland and Josephine prepared dishes such as meat steak, homemade ham, potatoes and gravy, cereal, and cookies. There were not many chicken dishes on the menu as they took a long time to cook. However, Sanders constantly experimented with them. It was during this time that Sanders met Claudia Price, a young divorcee who lived in Corbin.

At Harland's urging, Josephine hired Claudia as her assistant. The woman was both a waitress and a cafe owner's mistress, but this quiet scandal did not affect the growing success of the establishment. In 1937, Sanders opened a small but luxurious hotel. He also befriended renowned food critic Duncan Hines, who wrote a glowing review of Sanders' establishments. For fun, Sanders sometimes let visitors listen to the donkey roar. They liked it, because during the Great Depression, entertainment was scarce. Sanders also kept a pet raven named Jim Crow.

Jim liked to pester the guests of the hotel, who were walking around the yard. He chased and pecked at them until he got a coin from them. Other people watched this spectacle with great pleasure. No one knew what the raven did with the money he received. A few years later, this secret was revealed. When Sanders was renovating the hotel, he discovered a mountain of coins behind an old staircase. It was at this time that he met his new love, Berta. Berta was his first pressure cooker that made delicious vegetable dishes in no time. Sanders wondered if the technique could be improved so that it quickly fried chicken meat without sacrificing quality.

He added pressure relief valves to Bertha to ensure nothing happened during frying, and spent the next few years experimenting with various types marinades, vegetable oils, flours, seasonings and temperatures. By July 1940, Sanders had developed a system for roasting chicken to a golden brown color in just eight minutes, and also improved the seasoning for the dish, adding a new, eleventh component to the traditional one. He also invented an incredibly tasty sauce, which included pieces of breading left in oil after frying chicken meat.

secret city

One December evening in 1941, the Sanders family sat in Margaret's house, enjoying the music that was playing on the radio. Suddenly, the concert was interrupted by a special newscast. The announcer informed the listeners that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, which means war was declared on the States. Sanders was then fifty-two years old, unfit for military service, but still able to do his little good for his country.

He left the restaurant on Claudia and went to the city of Oak Ridge (Tennessee). Here, the government hastily erected a state facility on the site where farmland used to be. Sanders met with his friend Joe Clemmons, the owner of a local cafeteria, and was appointed to the position of assistant manager. Sanders worked in Oak Ridge until the end of the war, but he had no idea what the thousands of men and women who called the city home were doing. They never openly discussed their work, not even with Sanders. Only after some time he learns that they were scientists and engineers who worked on the creation of uranium-235.

They spent years turning the heaps of metal into several kilograms of a special isotope. In 1945, with the help of it, the Little Boy bomb was created, which was loaded into the Enola Gay combat aircraft and dropped on Hiroshima. This was the first time that nuclear weapons were used for military purposes.

Return of the Colonel

In 1952, Harland Sanders decided to visit Australia. Much has changed in his life after the war. Garland divorced Josephine after 39 years living together and married Claudia. Governor Weatherby reinstated him to the rank of Kentucky Colonel for culinary merit, and this time Sanders decided to take full advantage of his title. He grew a grizzled beard, gave himself an odd signature, introduced himself as "Colonel Sanders" and wore black suits with a bolo tie. He also thought that it would be nice for him to change his vocabulary in order to become a real gentleman.

This meant that he needed to completely eliminate profanity from his speech. That's why he went to Australia, where he hoped that a big religious conference would be able to rid him of the habit of swearing. However, first he needed to visit Utah. Sixty-two-year-old Colonel Sanders got off the train in Salt Lake City and headed to the Do Drop Inn, a hamburger stand that was owned by Pete Harman. Sanders met Harman at a meeting of restaurateurs in Chicago. The colonel immediately liked the young man, because he was the only one present who refused alcohol.

Sanders asked Harman to take him to a local grocer, from whom he bought some frozen chicken carcasses and lots of condiments. He wanted to cook his "secret recipe" chicken, which he had perfected before the war, in the hope that Harman would be willing to sign a franchise agreement with him. Franchising was new at the time; Sanders wanted to convince well-known restaurateurs to add his recipe's chicken and sauce to their establishments' menus. However, for access to the method of preparing Sanders' signature dish, they naturally had to pay a certain amount.

The Colonel cooked chicken in Harman's kitchen in a borrowed pressure cooker. Fried chicken was not a ubiquitous dish in those days, so Do Drop's chefs were wary of it. They looked at Sanders's chicken as a pile of seasoned dinosaur descendants. They tried it, but they were not particularly enthusiastic. Colonel Sanders boarded the train and returned to San Francisco, from where he flew to Australia. . In 1951, Sanders decided to run for Kentucky Senator, but he was defeated by a narrow margin.

Two weeks later, Claudia met her husband in San Francisco, and Sanders decided that she should definitely see Harman's new establishment. They got off the train in Salt Lake City and headed to Do Drop, where they saw a huge sign that read "Kentucky Fried Chicken - Something New, Something Different." other"). "Damn it!" Sanders said. A trip to Australia did not help him.

In all likelihood, Pete Harman recognized the eleventh ingredient that Colonel Sanders purchased from the grocer and thoroughly studied the process of frying chicken meat in a pressure cooker. The name "Kentucky Fried Chicken" was coined by the person who drew the sign. He suggested it when Harman was considering what to name the Colonel's dish. After Sapders' unexpected return, Harman decided to formally negotiate a franchise deal with him. The Colonel, in turn, laid claim to the name "Kentucky Fried Chicken".

They sealed the deal with a handshake. Soon, Harman invented the notorious "bucket" and opened several more establishments. Five years later, his annual income had increased fivefold.

Road

In 1956, US President Dwight Eisenhower signed the General Location of National System of Interstate Highways Act into law, allocating $25 billion to build 40,000 miles of highways. It was the largest public works project in American history. Sanders' hotel and restaurant struggled to stay afloat after a key Route 25 junction was relocated.

However, the colonel realized the seriousness of the situation only after the local newspaper published data on new roads. According to this information, Route 25 was supposed to replace Interstate 75, which was going to be built seven miles from the city. Sanders was forced to sell for a small sum what had been built over the years. At sixty-six, he returned to the beginning of the path. He received $105 a month in social assistance, as well as a small franchise income.

In this position, Sanders decided to get serious about franchising. He would come to a city in his Oldsmobile, park it on the outskirts and sleep in the back seat. He took with him everything he needed to demonstrate the process of preparing his signature dish - a refrigerator with chicken carcasses, flour, a recently patented pressure cooker, seasonings, vegetable oil and fire extinguishers. At first, he fried chicken for restaurant employees, and if they liked the dish, then he offered it to visitors to try. He walked around the restaurant hall in a snow-white suit, with a silver beard, a bolo tie and a cane in his hands, and asked the guests whether they liked the meal or not.

One of the restaurants that chose to sign a franchise deal with Sanders was The Hobby House in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Colonel befriends his chef, Dave Thomas. An experienced veteran took young Thomas under his wing and shared wise advice with him. Subsequently, Thomas would become the manager of several successful Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises, and even later create his own chain of fast food restaurants called Wendy's.

diner

One day, Sanders and Claudia decided to have breakfast at the same diner. When the waitress brought them some badly fried eggs, the Colonel said, “Miss, I'm not drunk enough to eat raw eggs. I ask you to bring me a normal meal." "Hmm, you're right," the employee replied, "I'll take them back to the kitchen." A few minutes later she returned with a plate in her hands. The scrambled eggs looked more dignified, however, according to the colonel, it was physically impossible to bring the eggs to readiness, taking into account the elapsed time.

He turned the scrambled eggs, and his suspicions were confirmed: no one fried it. The cook was sitting in the kitchen smoking a cigarette when the double doors opened and a man appeared in front of him, dressed in a very strange way. He had a plate of breakfast in his hands. “You son of a bitch,” said the intruder. “Did you think you were the smartest person here?” “First of all, I'm not a son of a bitch,” said the offended cook, rising from the table. “Second, get out of my kitchen.” “Of course I’ll leave, but before that I’ll do something,” Sanders replied.

He took the scrambled eggs from his plate and threw them at the object of his disdain, saying, "Keep your balls!" A cook in a uniform stained with egg yolk rushed at Sanders with a knife. The Colonel was forced to run out into the dining room and grab a stool in self-defense. He blurted out a whole bunch of vulgarities regarding supernatural deities, bodily secretions, reproduction, temperament and marital status of the attacker's parents, after which he apologized to the frightened visitors.

The cook eventually gave up and returned to the kitchen. Sanders walked over to the table where Claudia was waiting for him. They decided that they should probably have breakfast elsewhere.

erysipelas

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Sanders' franchise income began to increase. Pete Harman became successful entrepreneur, which by that time managed to open several more establishments in various cities. Colonel Sanders' company also launched a number of innovative cafes that lacked the traditional dining area. Food was packed in boxes and buckets, so customers could dine at home if they wanted. This concept has become very popular over time.

The Colonel himself began visiting local radio stations to tell his story, and also made occasional television shows. His face and bolo tie appeared on food packages, and people began to recognize him more and more on the streets. “I was against the use of my photographs,” Sanders said. “I have always referred to my face as a mug. I asked to do a drawing for an advertisement, and when I saw it on my food boxes, I almost fainted.” By 1962 throughout North America there were hundreds of restaurants that paid money to the seventy-two-year-old Sanders, according to a franchise agreement. Most of these transactions were sealed with a handshake and word of honor.

Franchise applicants eventually became so numerous that Sanders could no longer meet with them in person. Instead, he invited them to his estate in Shelbyville, Kentucky.

City slicker

In October 1963, a twenty-nine-year-old lawyer named John Brown Jr. decided that Colonel Sanders should sell him his lucrative Kentucky Fried Chicken, Incorporated corporation. Brown began working with Sanders from the day the company was founded, which at first brought in only 300 thousand dollars a year and had seventeen employees. The Colonel was not a fan of paid advertising, but Brown advocated an aggressive sales policy.

He convinced Sanders to meet him at dinner with Jack Massey, a Nashville businessman. “Colonel,” said Massey, “you are already seventy-four years old. You came up with a wonderful product at Kentucky Fried Chicken. You've been working tirelessly, but now it's time for you to rest." The Colonel did not know how to rest and did not like it. According to him, he rejected the proposal of the "urban rogue", probably using a huge amount of profanity for this purpose.

But the couple was restless. Brown and Massey each time stumbled upon a refusal, however, apparently, they decided to starve Sanders out and all sorts of horror stories. They told him that the amount of taxes would be astronomical if he died as the sole owner of the company. Thus, he will disinherit his daughters. Moreover, they convinced Sanders that if he decided to sell the franchise as planned, then his company would certainly go bankrupt.

In general, they told him a lot of things. Brown and Massey convinced Sanders to meet with Pete Harman and other franchisees to discuss the possibility of selling the company. To Sanders' surprise, they recommended that he sell Kentucky Fried Chicken. Most likely, this was due to the fact that Brown and Massey offered each of them 25,000 shares of the company, as well as a seat on the board of directors. At a meeting that lasted until two in the morning, Sanders finally decided to sell his offspring for two million dollars, however, on the condition that he, as a goodwill ambassador, remain working in the company as a quality controller and receive an annual salary of 40 thousand.

The agreement did not cover several regions that Sanders had already pledged to his friends and family, including Canada, which he wanted to keep for himself. Later, he wanted to buy part of the company's shares as part of the deal, but the buyers refused him because of high taxes. He decided to trust them. In the end, Sanders signed the sale and purchase agreement, received the first part of the money in the amount of $500,000 from Massey, and entrusted the work of his life to city rogues.

Sanders did not transfer shares of the company until he received all two million in his hands. However, he only fully calmed down after the company's new owners assured him that they would not compromise when it came to business or product quality.

Ambassador Sanders

And the compromises at Kentucky Fried Chicken, Inc. started walking almost immediately. Massey and Brown bought out most of the existing franchises and directed that the remaining owners remove their own dishes from the menu, rename their restaurants "Kentucky Fried Chicken", refurbish the décor with branding, and use "Colonel's face" signage and packaging. The new advertising campaign was really aggressive and financially successful.

The colonel took part in the filming of several commercials and talk shows. “If you see a picture of my face anywhere, then know that here you will be deliciously fed,” Sanders said. “At least the chicken will definitely be good!” The colonel did not like the changes that were taking place within the company, but he was just an ambassador of goodwill, so he could not do anything. And although, according to the sale and purchase agreement, Canada remained the territory of Sanders, the lawyers of the new corporation soon discovered one loophole, according to which they could legally sell chicken on Canadian market. When the executives of "Kentucky Fried Chicken, Inc." later came to Sanders and asked him to transfer the pledged shares to them so that the company would go public, he refused. However, when they renegotiated the sales contract to close the Canadian loophole, he had to agree.

Sanders continued to spread goodwill on television, but he did it through his teeth. Jack Massey, an investor who controlled 60% of the company's shares, ordered the headquarters to be moved from Colonel Sanders' huge estate in Shelbyville to a new building in Tennessee. “What the hell, it’s not Tennessee Fried Chicken?! – outraged disgruntled Sanders when he learned about Massey's decision. “That slippery, nasty son of a bitch!”

Drunkards and scoundrels

In the early 1970s, Colonel Sanders learned that Kentucky Fried Chicken and its 3,500+ franchises had been acquired for $285 million by Heublein Inc., a company that became famous for selling Smirnoff vodka.

As a man who had opposed alcohol all his life, the Colonel considered it a terrible insult. After the sale was completed, the corporation was divided among the new millionaires. Colonel Sanders was not among them. As the owners' huge, insatiable bellies began to grumble, the chefs and chemists working for the company were tasked with finding ways to reduce the costs associated with Sanders' secret recipe. Cheaper ingredients taken in smaller quantities could save millions of dollars. Making chicken sauce required a lot of effort and money, so they decided to replace it with a powdered alternative.

Colonel Sanders was not aware of these changes, but he received a lot of letters from fans who bombarded him with questions about why he constantly changes his recipes. Meanwhile, there was growing concern among Heublein executives over a new "delicious" offering from rival Church's Chicken. Its owners decided to add crispy chicken to the menu and position it as a dish prepared according to original recipe Sanders.

The colonel, of course, did not like this idea. However, the new owners of his "name and appearance" were of a different opinion. They decided to give the green light to the Colonel's face on boxes labeled "Colonel Sanders Super Crispy Chicken". In an attempt to restore his reputation as a chef, Garland decided to open The Colonel's Lady at his home. Among other things, fried chicken was on his menu, but it is not clear whether it was prepared according to the same "secret recipe" or not. According to Sanders' daughter, Margaret, after her father opened a new business, litigation began.

The colonel decided to sue "drunks and scoundrels" for using his image to promote products to which he had nothing to do. "I'm not particularly proud that my name is associated with some of my restaurants," he said during an interview with the Milwaukee Journal. Everyone thinks I'm the face of Kentucky Fried Chicken. But they don’t know that completely different people are behind the company now [...] I just want to understand what part of my body and soul they own.” Ultimately, Sanders and Heublein settled the dispute out of court. "Heublein" paid the Colonel one million dollars and pledged not to interfere in his new endeavor. Sanders, in turn, agreed to change the name of his restaurant to Claudia Sanders Dinner House. By the way, it still works.

Colonel Sanders and Alice Cooper

Colonel Sanders-san

When westerners began searching Japan for a replacement for the traditional holiday turkey, all they could find was chicken. Upon learning of this, the marketing department of "Kentucky Fried Chicken" launched a advertising campaign titled "Kentucky for Christmas". The proposal interested not only foreigners, but also the Japanese themselves. The tradition of coming to Kentucky for Christmas continues to this day.

In the 1970s, Colonel Sanders traveled to Japan several times to promote hundreds of Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises. Wherever he was, he ran across his plastic double, who extended his arms in a welcoming pose. One such statue was famously tossed into the Dotonbori River by riotous fans when the Hanshin Tigers won the Japanese championship in 1985. She had less luck in later years. According to local legend, the Colonel's Curse, a punishment for desecrating Sanders' image, was to blame. It was believed that the Hanshin Tigers would lose until the statue of Sanders was taken out of the river and put back in its original place.

Defamation lawsuit

As the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises spread around the world, 86-year-old Colonel Sanders was forced to fly various corners the globe for grand openings and other events. He liked to make surprise visits to the restaurants of the chain in order to check the quality. If the chicken was cooked in the most ordinary way, and the sauce was bad, or the cleanliness of the premises did not meet the requirements, then harsh criticism rained down on the local management.

One day in 1976, the staff of a franchise in Bowling Green, Kentucky, anxiously waited for the Colonel to taste the sauce and give his verdict. “How can you serve this damn slop with straw?!” he shouted. He later told the Courier-Journal, “God, this sauce is just awful. They make it from tap water to which they add flour and starch. Yes, this is pure wallpaper paste!” The Bowling Green franchise sued Sanders, the man whose face graced their establishment's sign, for defamation.

The court, in turn, ruled that the Colonel condemned Kentucky Fried Chicken in general, not their restaurant in particular. The owners of Heublein could have sued Sanders or even fired him, but visitors still responded positively to his ads and appearance so they decided not to touch it.

Limited time

In April 1979, Colonel Sanders traveled to Japan for another promotional tour. He traveled to hundreds of restaurants where he posed for pictures with thousands of his fans. Returning home, he felt an unprecedented fatigue. Weeks went by and his condition did not improve.

Some time later, he was diagnosed with acute leukemia. Sanders spent the next few months in the hospital. He knew that he would soon die, so he asked that on the day when this happens, all franchise establishments were open. People should not be deprived of chicken. In the last years of his life, Colonel Sanders became interested in religion, and one day he asked the reverend if God could help him get rid of foul language. “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you will receive it, and it will be for you,” the priest answered him with words from the Bible. And the colonel prayed. He said that he then felt as if a heavy stone had fallen from his shoulders. Harland Sanders died on December 16, 1980 at the age of 90.

His coffin was displayed in the rotunda of the Kentucky State Capitol, where everyone could say goodbye to the deceased. Sanders' daughter, Margaret, wrote a book about her upbringing called The Colonel's Secret: Eleven Herbs and a Spicy Daughter. In it, she talked about how she was her father's favorite. Margaret also credits herself for the key innovations that led to the success of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Moreover, the book includes interesting details about sexual life Colonel, including a funny story that happened the day Margaret was conceived.

Today, "Kentucky Fried Chicken" (short for "KFC") is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands Corporation, whose headquarters were moved back to Kentucky many years ago. "KFC" is today considered the second largest chain of fast food restaurants in the world. An independent laboratory study showed that modern KFC restaurants use salt, pepper, sugar and monosodium glutamate as seasoning, but the owners of the corporation claim the opposite.

Sanders has always insisted that chicken be fried in vegetable oil, but in the 1990s the company switched to cheaper alternatives - soy and palm oils. One can only imagine how Harland Sanders would have reacted to further use his name and image by the owners of modern restaurants of the KFC chain. Surely he would have said something about supernatural deities, bodily secretions, reproduction, temperaments and marital status of the parents of the current company leaders, sued them or attacked them with fists to once and for all decide what part of his body and soul they own.

On March 10, 2009, workers who were building an embankment near the Dotonbori River in Osaka (Japan) stumbled upon a strange object in wet soil. It was a statue of Colonel Sanders without his right arm. The missing piece was later found near the spot where the statue itself lay. The Japanese authorities decided to restore it and return it to its rightful place, thus removing the great "Curse of the Colonel".

American chain of fast food restaurants (fast food). Specializes in chicken meat, as her name suggests - Kentucky Fried Chicken(fried chicken from Kentucky). From the name, you can immediately understand where this brand comes from. The headquarters of the company is located in Louisville, Kentucky, USA (Louisville, Kentucky, United States).

Telling the story of the brand KFC, it is impossible not to at least briefly tell the biography of its founder, best known as Colonel Sanders (Colonel Sanders). David Sanders was born on September 9, 1890. His childhood was difficult, and the situation in the family forced David to leave home as a boy. He forged documents and at the age of 16 went to serve in the US Army. After the end of his term of service, he wandered a lot around the country and during these wanderings he learned a lot, including cooking a wide variety of dishes. At the age of 40, he opened a gas station in the town of Corbin, Kentucky, where he treated customers to fried chicken, prepared according to his own recipe, containing a certain set of herbs and spices. It was this dish that was destined to play a decisive role in the fate of Sanders. Gas station visitors liked the dish and more and more often they began to come in just to eat, and not just fill up the car.

Sanders realized that he had hit a goldmine. He improved the recipe (the chicken was pressure-fried) and moved to a larger facility; and then to a bigger one. It is noteworthy that in those years the Great Depression raged in the United States. By 1950, he was already so popular in Kentucky that he was even awarded the title of Colonel of Kentucky, handed to him personally by the governor of the state. It was then that the image that is depicted on the logo today crystallized. KFC.

In 1955, the first problems began - the popularity of the Colonel's restaurants began to subside. But Sanders did not lose his head, and having found the funds, he began to expand their number, actively introducing the franchise. The effect was not long in coming. In 1964, at the age of 74, David Sanders sold his business to Kentucky businessmen for almost $2 million (by then the number of restaurants already exceeded 600). Interestingly, at the same time, he retained the right to Canadian franchises and did not go out of business for a long time.

The Colonel died in 1980, having lived for 90 years. It is interesting that he was buried in the famous white suit, which for so many years has personified the image of the founder KFC. By the way, the image of Colonel Sanders has become so remarkable that he has already been played many times in popular culture. He is almost as recognizable as the clown Ronald McDonald

After the death of the founder, the company was resold several times. Owners KFC there were companies like R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and PepsiCo .

In 1991, it was decided to shorten the name to a three-letter abbreviation. And since 1997 KFC owned by an American corporation Yum! Brands, specializing in food products (also owns brands