Kentucky’s Colonel Sanders

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Harland David Sanders, better known as Colonel Sanders (September 9, 1890 – December 16, 1980) was the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). His picture appears on their boxes to this day, and a stylized graphic of his face is a trademark of the corporation. From the late 1920s to the early 1950s, Sanders sold his chicken to hungry passersby in Corbin, Ky. — first from a gas station he operated and later from a restaurant he opened across the street. Sanders’ chicken became very popular after it was praised by famed restaurant critic and Bowling Green, Ky., native Duncan Hines in the 1930s publication “Adventures in Good Eating.” During this period, Sanders perfected what later became known as “his secret blend of 11 herbs and spices.” Things were going very well for Sanders. All that changed, however, in the early 1960s when a new interstate highway was planned to bypass Corbin. Seeing an end to his business, the Colonel auctioned off his operations. At an age when Sanders should have been settling down into a comfortable retirement, he was forced to start all over with nothing more than a $105 Social Security check. Despite his advancing age and the disappointment of the new highway, the Colonel proved more than up to the task. He believed in the notion “a man will rust out quicker’n he’ll wear out.” By this time, Sanders was convinced of the quality of both his recipe and his chicken. He was always a stickler for detail. For example, he refused to sacrifice taste by cooking his chicken quicker — even if that meant he could sell more. Sanders believed other people across the country would enjoy his chicken just like the travelers through Corbin, if only he could get it to them. That’s when Sanders set out on a journey across the country with his chicken fryer, the secret recipe and his attention-grabbing garb. He cooked chicken for any restaurant owner who was interested. If they liked it, they promised to give him a nickel for each piece of Colonel Sanders’ chicken they sold. In turn, Sanders kept them well stocked with his 11 herbs and spices. Sanders once recalled the spices being mixed “like cement.” Once mixed, the Colonel’s wife, Claudia, packed the spices in little paper sacks with cellophane linings and shipped them by midnight train to their destinations. KFC eventually grew beyond Sanders’ wildest dreams. It became so popular, in fact, that one man couldn’t possibly manage it anymore. As a result, Sanders sold the business in 1963 for $2 million. “The Colonel was a one-man show,” Brown recalled. “He’d even check every bag of seasoning at the warehouse.” To learn more about the life of Colonel Harland Sanders, you can visit KFC’s Internet site at www.kfc.com or read Sanders’ autobiography, “Life As I Have Known It Has Been Finger Lickin’ Good.”