Success Story of Colonel Harland David Sanders (founder of Kfc)

“One has to remember that every failure can be a stepping-stone to something better”- Colonel Sanders

Colonel Sanders, a man who struggled throughout his career but never gave up on working hard. He discontinued his school education at a very young age and started to help his family economically. At a very young age of 16, he somehow managed to enter the U.S army but was later discharged. He then, started working as a steam engine stoker but couldn’t continue with it due to his misbehavior with his co-workers and then found a job of selling insurance door to door. At the age of 40, he decided to start something of his own and began to sell chicken dishes but it was his misfortune that it was first brought down because of an argument with a competitor. Then he bought a motel but it was set into flames but he didn’t give up and re-built it but it was again shut down due to World War II.

After the war was over, he came up with a concept of frying chicken in a pressure fryer instead of high cholesterol oil frying but it was rejected 1,009 times before Pete Harman accepted the ‘secret recipe- Kentucky Fried Chicken’ of Sanders and agreed to take a franchise. It was the time when KFC started to climb up the stairs of success. After this, demand of Sander’s ‘secret recipe’ rose to several other restaurants and franchised the concept paying $0.04/chicken. Sanders began to earn a good income from his restaurant and he re-invested his earnings to grow his franchise. When everything was going great, Sanders was hit by bad luck and customer traffic reduced to almost zero after the construction of Interstate 75. Sanders couldn’t even reach the break-even point and was only left with his savings and $105/month from social security. It was the time of great depression for Sanders but instead of giving up he came up with a new idea of spreading KFC franchises and hiring KFC workers throughout the country.

After years of failures and misfortunes, Sanders got a huge break. He decided to sell his franchise and went from restaurant to restaurant in his car. For that time, Sanders used to sleep on his car’s rear seat but later on, potential franchises began to visit Sanders instead. Soon, KFC became an international franchise and earned a lot more name and fame. But because of old age, Sanders sold his Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation for $2 million to John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey (keeping Canadian franchise under him). Sanders became a salaried brand ambassador. Today, KFC is recognized by his logo with Sanders in center of KFC’s branding. His goatee, white suit and western tie continue to symbolize delicious fried chicken globally. Sanders’ zeal to do something big helped him to overcome constant failures and expand KFC globally. “An entrepreneur isn’t someone who owns a business. It’s someone who makes things happen.”