Colonel Sanders: The legend, the brand, the man behind KFC

It’s a common mistake to assume the legend of KFC’s Colonel Sanders is the creation of an elaborate “marketing strategy”.

His larger than life persona – his world-famous, white-suited and white-bearded image – coupled with the inspirational story of how he came to share his mouth-watering secret recipe chicken with the world sounds like a finely crafted tale cooked up by a very creative marketer, doesn’t it?

The truth is, the colonel is as real as his famous secret recipe chicken and he is the reason we all know and love KFC across the globe. But what makes this Kentucky-born king of chicken so special?

Growing up in the small town of Corbin, Kentucky, young Harland Sanders didn’t have much to begin with. At the tender age of six, fatherless and the eldest child in his family, Harland had to step up in becoming a care-giver to his younger siblings.

Under the guidance of his working mother, he took to the kitchen to help with preparing meals for the family. Before long, Harland was a master of culinary regional cuisines, needless to say this included his famous fried chicken.

At the age of 40, Sanders bought a service station to better support his family and earn a living. Not owning a restaurant yet, he put his love of cooking to good use by serving meals to hungry travellers in the dining room of his living quarters at the station. When he started to get recognition for his delicious southern-style cooking, people from far and wide came in droves to have a taste.

He knew he had a winning recipe. This was when he invented the “home meal replacement” – selling complete meals to busy families. He dubbed it: “Sunday Dinner, Seven Days a Week.”

It wasn’t long until he owned a motel and café that seated 142 people in his home town, meeting the growing demand for his sought-after and coveted fried chicken. This was the beginning of an incredible story.

Sanders’ motel did so well that the then Kentucky State Governor gave him a special honour by making him a “Kentucky Colonel” for his outstanding achievement in the community and for his mouth-watering contribution to the state’s cuisine. This title would become more famous than Harland himself could ever imagine.

In 1939, Colonel Sanders finally perfected his blend of 11 herbs and spices – the distinguished secret recipe that makes KFC the best tasting chicken in the world, and which – to this day – remains a closely guarded secret. It was for this very tantalising reason that his restaurant was listed in a famous guide to US restaurants. It was this spark that resulted in an explosion of success.

But, the construction of a new system of motorways running between US states in the mid 50s ended up diverting traffic around the town of Corbin, almost crippling the Colonel’s thriving business. With unrelenting determination to get his chicken to the public, the Colonel toured the country, from east coast to west, to share his award-winning chicken with restaurant owners. His return was humble, but the exposure of having his secret recipe savoured by others is what mattered most to the Colonel.

At the ripe age of 74, Colonel Sanders had become a national phenomenon with over 600 franchise outlets – every one of them proudly displaying his white-suited profile. His dream was accomplished.

In 1967, the Colonel sold his business to a group of investors for 2 million US dollars. Fearing the brand and the southern sentiment would be watered down without him, he stayed involved to make sure the quality of the chicken remained high, the consistency of his original cooking and preparation processes were upheld, and his brand remained the face of family time chicken meals.

Part of the reason the brand has remained true to its roots is the dedication of the Colonel in teaching, training and guiding his restaurants the world over, making sure his recipe remained strong and everyone could feel at home, knowing their KFC was just as tasty no matter where they were in the world.

Before the Colonel was diagnosed with leukaemia in 1980, he visited KFC restaurants around the world, praising staff for supporting his dream. What started as an entrepreneurial venture funded by a social security cheque of 105 US dollars, became a popular global fast-food empire and success story. Although his coveted recipe remains known only to a select few to this day, and is tightly locked up in a vault in Kentucky, the Colonel’s legacy lives on.

At the heart of his remarkable journey was the Colonel’s philosophy and drive to “have ambition to work, willingness to work and integrity in what you do”. And that is exactly what he did.

Thirty-four years after his death, his name, quality, secret spices and brand continue to live on in the mouths of chicken lovers from New York to Tokyo, from Johannesburg to Calcutta.