KFC
Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with over 30,000 locations globally in 150 countries as of April 2024[update].[6] KFC was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders (1890–1980), an entrepreneur who began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky, during the Great Depression.Sanders identified the potential of the restaurant-franchising concept, and the first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" franchise opened in Salt Lake County, Utah, in 1952.By branding himself as "Colonel Sanders", Harland became a prominent figure of American cultural history and his image remains widely used in KFC advertising to this day.[19] In 1952, Sanders franchised his recipe to his friend Pete Harman of South Salt Lake, Utah, the operator of one of the city's largest restaurants.[21] Independent restaurants would pay four (later five) cents on each chicken as a franchise fee in exchange for Sanders' recipe and the right to feature it on their menus and use his name and likeness for promotional purposes.[23] For Harman, the addition of KFC was a way of differentiating his restaurant from competitors; a product from Kentucky was exotic and evoked imagery of Southern hospitality.[25] With significant growth in tow, the fledgling Kentucky Fried Chicken decided in 1964 that they would begin offering franchise opportunities beyond the Atlantic, and landed on the United Kingdom as its entry point into Europe.In 1970 Grace returned to Ireland after a number of years in Canada to open his first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Phibsboro shopping center in Dublin.After disagreements over cost cutting with KFC management in the early 1980s, the Irish restaurants were renamed to Pat Grace's Famous Fried Chicken reportedly retaining the original recipe.[44] In a planned rotation of actors,[45] Norm Macdonald, Jim Gaffigan, George Hamilton and Rob Riggle portrayed Sanders in similar ads through the fall of 2016.[50] Before leaving as CEO in 2021, Andrea Zahumensky told Ad Age the "brand assets that we're so lucky to have" were the bucket, the three stripes and the full name Kentucky Fried Chicken.[53] KFC is incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law,[54] and has its headquarters at 1441 Gardiner Lane, Louisville, Kentucky, in a three-story colonial style building known colloquially as the "White House" due to its resemblance to the US president's home.[57] KFC's core product offering is pressure fried on-the-bone chicken pieces seasoned with Colonel Harland Sanders' "Original Recipe" of 11 herbs and spices.[63] Due to the company's previous relationship with PepsiCo, most territories supply PepsiCo products, but exceptional territories include Barbados, Greece, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Romania,[71] South Africa, Turkey, Indonesia (since 2019),[72] Singapore (since 2022)[73] and Malaysia (since 2022)[74] which stock drinks supplied by The Coca-Cola Company, and Aruba, which stocks RC Cola from the Cott Corporation.[80] Egg custard tart is a popular dessert worldwide, but other items include ice cream sundaes and tres leches cake in Peru.[93] Joe Ledington of Kentucky, a nephew by marriage of Colonel Sanders, claimed to have found a copy of the original KFC fried chicken recipe on a handwritten piece of paper in an envelope in a scrapbook.[102] Side dishes often include French fries, coleslaw, barbecue baked beans, corn on the cob, mashed potato, bread rolls and American biscuits.[114] The Hartzog model had no oil filtration system, meaning that filtering had to be done manually, and the pressure fryers occasionally exploded often harming employees.[113] In 1969, inventor and engineer Winston L. Shelton developed the "Collectramatic" pressurized fryer to overcome the problems KFC faced in quickly frying chicken to meet growing customer demand.[121] In 1962, Dave Thomas took Colonel Sanders' bucket and turned it into a sign[122] that revolved in a circular motion in front of almost every American KFC outlet.The fan passes around his "bucket of KFC", even though the commercial was intended for an Australian audience, which found its way to social media in the United States, prompting sharp disapproval.KFC Australia made a statement to the fact the commercial was "misinterpreted by a segment of people in the US" and it was a "light-hearted reference to the West Indian cricket team" and "The ad was reproduced online in the US without KFC's permission, where we are told a culturally-based stereotype exists, leading to the incorrect assertion of racism...We unequivocally condemn discrimination of any type and have a proud history as one of the world's leading employers for diversity".[133] Independent forensic tests showed that some packaging contained more than 50 percent mixed tropical hardwood fiber, sourced from Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).[134][135] APP said such fiber can be found in recycled paper, or: "It can also come from tree residues that are cleared, after a forest area has become degraded, logged-over or burned, as part of a sustainable development plan.APP has strict policies and practices in place to ensure that only residues from legal plantation development on degraded or logged-over forest areas and sustainable wood fiber enters the production supply chain."[133] In December 2012, the chain was criticized in China when it was discovered that a number of KFC suppliers had been using growth hormones and an excessive amount of antibiotics on its poultry in ways that violated Chinese law.The company admitted to charges of failing in a duty of care to employees and was ordered by Teesside Crown Court in Middlesbrough to pay fines of £800,000 and £150,000.Animal rights activists entered the same farm months later and found vastly different conditions, with instances of "severe overcrowding" and "lame and dead birds".Paul Roger, a vet and founder member of AWSELVA, said birds in the footage were exhibiting "behavioural signs of stress such as feather pecking and topical skin infection".
KFC (disambiguation)SubsidiaryFast food restaurantNorth Corbin, KentuckySalt Lake CountyHarland SandersPete HarmanGardiner LaneLouisville, KentuckyDallas145 countriespresidentFried chickenChicken burgersFrench friesMilkshakesSaladsBreakfastsParentYum! Brandsdoing business asMcDonald'sPizza HutTaco BellColonel Harland SandersCorbin, KentuckyGreat DepressionfranchisinghamburgerAmerican cultural historyJohn Y. Brown Jr.Jack C. MasseyMurphy, North CarolinaJamaicaspiritsHeubleinR. J. ReynoldsPepsiCoexpanded rapidly in Chinaspun offpressure-fried11 herbs and spicestrade secretchicken fillet sandwichescoleslawslogansHistory of KFCHarland Sanders Café and MuseumHenryville, Indianacanningfilling stationU.S. Route 25Appalachian Mountainscountry hamKentucky ColonelGovernorRuby LaffoonSanders Court & Cafédeep frypressure cookerspressure fryerOriginal Recipesalt and pepperLawrence Wetherbygoateefrock coatstring tieJosh OzerskyfranchisedSouth Salt Lake, UtahInterstate 75Southern hospitalitybread rollsPreston, LancashireTondanoNorth SulawesiConnecticutinitialismPriszmChick-fil-ADarrell HammondNorm MacdonaldJim GaffiganGeorge HamiltonRob RiggleReba McEntireAd AgeOperations of KFC by countryList of countries with KFC franchisesDelaware General Corporation Lawcolonial styleUS president's homeresearch and developmentpressure friedwheat floursunflowersoybeanrapeseedpalm oilThai chili saucefinger foodshot wingsPopcorn chickenchicken nuggetsMcCormick & CompanyThe Coca-Cola CompanyRC ColaCott CorporationInca KolaKit Katshortcakecustard tartice cream sundaestres leches cakepancakeswafflesporridgeKFC Original Recipetrade secretsMcCormickChicago TribuneAc'centgrilledIslamicliversall-you-can-eat