It is often assumed that to create something, one must start from an early age or time, but the KFC founder’s story defies that assumption. Colonel Harland Sanders was in his late 60s when he found KFC. His road to KFC fame goes beyond fried chicken success. His KFC success strategies come from a long ordeal of situational crisis and more than a thousand ‘NOs.’ Even after all these years, the Colonel Sanders biography shows what makes a sturdy leader.
Had to Don the Colonel Role At Six Years Old
Born on September 9, 1890, Harland David Sanders was the eldest child in his family. The leadership cap was something he had donned at a very early age of six after his father’s passing. He immediately shouldered responsibilities like cooking and looking after his siblings. He showed great improvement in his culinary skills by mastering techniques in baking bread and cutting vegetables. But soon, already engulfed in hardships, he had to quit school and begin working on the farms.
Unlike other kids, he never had a normal childhood. As he grew up, he had to support his family by working as a streetcar conductor, railroad firefighter, insurance salesman, soldier, and lawyer. Yet, none of these jobs were his calling. His luck came in 1927, when he took over a Standard Oil gas station in Nicholasville, Kentucky.
His First Try At Selling His Homemade Fried Chicken Goodness!
At the gas station, he stood out for his work in customer service. His business took off, and he was making over $12,000 a month, a good amount at the time. But tragedy struck again with the Great Depression, in which he had to close the gas station.
He got another opportunity when Shell gave him the option to operate a gas station in Corbin. He also served food to the travelers coming by, which sparked the fire in his entrepreneurial spirit for what would eventually become the worldwide famous Kentucky Fried Chicken, aka KFC.
Won Many Taste Buds
He was cooking fried chicken in his household, and won the taste buds of several people by the late 1930s, which made him turn his gas station into a restaurant with 142 seats and a motel. Following the next nine years, he went into honing his culinary skills and spice blends, where he came up with 11 herbs and spices in the final recipe, which is used to this day.
Yet the Cooking Method Proved Challenging
But he had a big problem—finding out how to cook chicken faster without compromising the quality. His initial methods, such as deep frying resulted in a dry and crispy texture of the chicken, and traditional ways took a very long time to cook it. Thanks to his thinking out-of-the-box ability, Harland found a brand-new technique for cooking the chicken: cooking it in the pressure cooker. Again, this involved a lot of trial and error, until he mastered a technique that allowed the chicken to be cooked in less than 10 minutes whilst sustaining its flavor or juiciness. This innovative mindset, clubbed with numerous tests and trials, paved the way for KFC's future success while also revolutionizing the concept of fried chicken. The innovative cooking method and the 11 spice blends are what solidified Harland's brand.
He is Not Called a Colonel for Nothing
But then came another setback in 1956 with a new roadway bypassing his service business. Harland had no choice but to auction his business for $75,000, which was a small portion of its previous value, due to his dimming business. Thought this would make the Colonel give up? Never!
Armed with a set of pressure cookers and his very own seasonings, Colonel went out there once again to sell his fried chicken recipe at restaurants around the nation.
But Why Did He Franchise His Fried Chicken rather than Build a Restaurant?
Harland soon discovered that running a restaurant business can be quite a daunting experience. It also needed a significant amount of funding. This is why he opted to franchise his best product instead of starting a new restaurant at the time. Burning with vigor, Harland went around the nation, meeting with restaurant owners and seeking to work out agreements with them to franchise his dish.
More Franchises than Any Restaurants At the Time
Restaurants began to sample his chicken one by one, and soon, he gained a small chain of franchisees. It became a huge success model that Governor Ruby Laffoon gave Colonel Harland Sanders the honorary title of Kentucky Colonel in 1935.
However, by the late 1950s, his savings started to dry up, and it was at this that both he and his wife decided to set up a new headquarters for KFC and a restaurant in Shelbyville, Kentucky. His franchising approach started to show success, which had expanded to more than 200 locations by 1960. In a matter of three years, he had more franchisees than any other fried chicken company in the US and Canada, totaling over 600.
As the brand continued to grow, the Colonel made the decision to hand it on. He sold it to investors in 1964 for $2 million, and two years later, they went public. By 1970, there were 3,000 Kentucky Fried Chicken (now KFC) locations throughout 48 nations.
Never Without Respite
Harland decided to keep the show going by involving himself in brand promotion during the next few years. In just one year, this Colonel traveled more than 320,000 kilometers to promote KFC in TV interviews and advertisements. His popularity quickly spread throughout the nation, and KFC's sales soared.
What Makes This Colonel Tough?
Whenever he was beaten down to his knees, he always sprung up. He turned the problems into something bigger instead. His tenacity serves as evidence of the value of determination in leadership.
His success was a result of both his innovative mindset and his culinary prowess. He explored new technology when conventional cooking methods failed what he was looking for, finally learning about the pressure cooker's capabilities.
Harland's emphasis on customer service was one of the main factors that distinguished him from his rivals. He always prioritized his customers, giving them something extra and making sure they had a good experience, whether he was operating a restaurant or a petrol station.