December 23, 2025 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, most restaurant founders fade into the background. Colonel Harland Sanders did the opposite. Long before fast food chains had PR teams and brand strategies, Sanders was out there shaking hands in his signature white suit, pitching his secret recipe, and turning himself into a walking trademark. Adam Chandler, author of Drive Thru Dreams, joins us to talk about how a broke gas station owner transformed fried chicken into a global empire and became one of the most recognizable faces in the world while doing it.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American People.
Colonel Harlan David Sanders was an American businessman known for
founding the fast food corporation Entucky Fried Chicken. Colonel Sanders
did something that no other restaurant founder dared to do.
He became his company's own mascot and brand ambassador. You
(00:32):
to share the story of KFC and a little about
who Colonel Sanders was is Adam Chandler, the author of
Drive Through Dreams. Take It Away.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Adam, the story of Colonel Sanders and KFC is one
of the best stories there is in fast food. There's
nothing else like it. This is a guy who was
(01:02):
born into poverty, grew up on a rural farm. He's
basically an orphan. He raises his own family while his
mother's working after his father dies at a very young age,
and he works every job imaginable for the first six
seven decades of his life. He's selling tires, he's working
(01:25):
for the Chamber of Commerce. He's building ferries, he's working
on trains, he's trying to become a lawyer. He does
all of these different things and he finds success in
some of them, and he fails at other ones, and
he just he keeps trying, and he ends up in
a small gas station that he owns in southeastern Kentucky,
and basically his entire focus is trying to beat out
(01:48):
the other gas stations for customers on the newly built
roads that are happening in southeastern Kentucky, the Dixie Highway,
and he ultimately succeeds by having excellent service and excellent food.
And that's the beginning of fried chicken. He loves it.
(02:10):
He creates a electric pressure cooker, patents it to make
fried chicken faster than anyone has ever made fried chicken before,
and it is a hit. He gets written up in
national publications, and eventually he turns this idea into a franchise.
He goes around and patents the recipe and sells the
(02:31):
idea on handshake deals to small mom and pop shops
and diners all around Appalachia and the Midwest, basically just
saying here's the recipe for my chicken. I'll send you
the seasoning, and you give me five cents for every
chicken that you cook. It's the most homespun thing imaginable.
It sounds completely insane today, but this is how he
built his empire. Eventually he started opening these standalone stores.
(02:59):
And mind you, he was sixty six when this happened.
He was old. That was the standard age that you
were suspected to possibly pass on at that point. That
was the life expectancy. Was where he was basically at
when he decides to turn KFC into an empire. And
he could have just retired, he would have been fine
(03:20):
doing it, but instead he goes out on the road
and he just creates this brand that everyone falls in
love with, and it expands around the world and he
becomes one of the most famous men in the world
after living in obscurity for so long, because he's got
this big personality, he's got this drive, and he's got
this really strong belief in his product. And you know,
(03:42):
the white planter suit with the tie, that's all something
that he came up with as a way to kind
of brand himself. He was a Kentucky colonel, which is
an honorary title in Kentucky, and he uses this to
market himself as the colonel. There are thousands of Kentucky
colonels out there. There's only Oneil Sanders, and everybody knows
who he is. He gets on television, he's in movies,
(04:08):
he becomes this character. He becomes the second most recognizable
figure in the world according to one poll in the
nineteen seventies. And that's not something that happens to a
lot of people. But through sheer force of will and
a lot of skill, he manages to do this, and
that idea is still a cherished part of the brand's
motto is doing things the hard way, the way that
(04:29):
the Colonel did it. So this story of sort of
perseverance and a real belief in self and in your
own invention is a huge reason why we know KFC
the world around. What's great about the fast food story,
and this is still true to some extent today, is
(04:50):
you didn't need a college degree or really great connections
to make it in the fast food industry when it
was starting out. Looking at the early stories of the founders,
most of them didn't graduate high school, much less go
to college. They were salespeople. They were salesmen driving around
the country trying to sort out a way to create
(05:12):
a business model that would be sustainable. A lot of
them served in the armed forces, at some point and
kind of learned what the meaning of regimented service and
operations are. And they just worked hard and created a
system that was very popular. So all of these really
big American ideals that we cherish is hard work, and
(05:33):
that part of the American story really come to bear
in fast food. And it's not just the big recognizable names,
you know, there are also these small entrepreneurs who open
franchises and are able to become wealthy in a way
that you would think you would need connections or advanced
(05:53):
degrees to get. And that's just not the story of
fast food. There are so many different people, all ages,
all backgrounds, all ethnicities that managed to create something special
in that post war era.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Madison Deicot, and a special thanks to
Adam Chandler, author of Drive Through Dreams. And by the way,
go to Allamericanstories dot com and you can hear the
full story of so many of the other fast food
and drive through restaurants that were formed and founded by
(06:33):
men and women just like Colonel Sanders. And this is
the distinct nature of this business. It didn't take a
PhD or a JD or a BS or even a
high school degree. He wanted to provide better service for
his customers and his gas station. He kicked around a
long time. In his sixties, he finally lives that American dream.
(06:55):
But boy does he hustle. And he's driving from town
to town selling his recipe and his patent. And by
the way, the number of people who got wealthy owning
KFCs and owning these restaurants, that's the other flip side
of this American dream. It wasn't just the product he
created fro him self, but the wealthy spread and by
the way, the yummy chicken. The story of Colonel Sanders
(07:18):
here on our American Stories. Lee Habib here, and I'm
inviting you to help our American Stories celebrate this country's
two hundred and fiftieth birthday coming soon. If you want
(07:38):
to help inspire countless others to love America like we do,
and want to help us bring the inspiring and important
stories told here about a good and beautiful country, please
consider making a tax deductible donation to our American Stories.
Go to Ouramerican Stories dot com and click the donate button.
Any amount helps go to Ouramerican Stories dot com and
(07:58):
give
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American People.
Colonel Harlan David Sanders was an American businessman known for
founding the fast food corporation Entucky Fried Chicken. Colonel Sanders
did something that no other restaurant founder dared to do.
He became his company's own mascot and brand ambassador. You
(00:32):
to share the story of KFC and a little about
who Colonel Sanders was is Adam Chandler, the author of
Drive Through Dreams. Take It Away.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Adam, the story of Colonel Sanders and KFC is one
of the best stories there is in fast food. There's
nothing else like it. This is a guy who was
(01:02):
born into poverty, grew up on a rural farm. He's
basically an orphan. He raises his own family while his
mother's working after his father dies at a very young age,
and he works every job imaginable for the first six
seven decades of his life. He's selling tires, he's working
(01:25):
for the Chamber of Commerce. He's building ferries, he's working
on trains, he's trying to become a lawyer. He does
all of these different things and he finds success in
some of them, and he fails at other ones, and
he just he keeps trying, and he ends up in
a small gas station that he owns in southeastern Kentucky,
and basically his entire focus is trying to beat out
(01:48):
the other gas stations for customers on the newly built
roads that are happening in southeastern Kentucky, the Dixie Highway,
and he ultimately succeeds by having excellent service and excellent food.
And that's the beginning of fried chicken. He loves it.
(02:10):
He creates a electric pressure cooker, patents it to make
fried chicken faster than anyone has ever made fried chicken before,
and it is a hit. He gets written up in
national publications, and eventually he turns this idea into a franchise.
He goes around and patents the recipe and sells the
(02:31):
idea on handshake deals to small mom and pop shops
and diners all around Appalachia and the Midwest, basically just
saying here's the recipe for my chicken. I'll send you
the seasoning, and you give me five cents for every
chicken that you cook. It's the most homespun thing imaginable.
It sounds completely insane today, but this is how he
built his empire. Eventually he started opening these standalone stores.
(02:59):
And mind you, he was sixty six when this happened.
He was old. That was the standard age that you
were suspected to possibly pass on at that point. That
was the life expectancy. Was where he was basically at
when he decides to turn KFC into an empire. And
he could have just retired, he would have been fine
(03:20):
doing it, but instead he goes out on the road
and he just creates this brand that everyone falls in
love with, and it expands around the world and he
becomes one of the most famous men in the world
after living in obscurity for so long, because he's got
this big personality, he's got this drive, and he's got
this really strong belief in his product. And you know,
(03:42):
the white planter suit with the tie, that's all something
that he came up with as a way to kind
of brand himself. He was a Kentucky colonel, which is
an honorary title in Kentucky, and he uses this to
market himself as the colonel. There are thousands of Kentucky
colonels out there. There's only Oneil Sanders, and everybody knows
who he is. He gets on television, he's in movies,
(04:08):
he becomes this character. He becomes the second most recognizable
figure in the world according to one poll in the
nineteen seventies. And that's not something that happens to a
lot of people. But through sheer force of will and
a lot of skill, he manages to do this, and
that idea is still a cherished part of the brand's
motto is doing things the hard way, the way that
(04:29):
the Colonel did it. So this story of sort of
perseverance and a real belief in self and in your
own invention is a huge reason why we know KFC
the world around. What's great about the fast food story,
and this is still true to some extent today, is
(04:50):
you didn't need a college degree or really great connections
to make it in the fast food industry when it
was starting out. Looking at the early stories of the founders,
most of them didn't graduate high school, much less go
to college. They were salespeople. They were salesmen driving around
the country trying to sort out a way to create
(05:12):
a business model that would be sustainable. A lot of
them served in the armed forces, at some point and
kind of learned what the meaning of regimented service and
operations are. And they just worked hard and created a
system that was very popular. So all of these really
big American ideals that we cherish is hard work, and
(05:33):
that part of the American story really come to bear
in fast food. And it's not just the big recognizable names,
you know, there are also these small entrepreneurs who open
franchises and are able to become wealthy in a way
that you would think you would need connections or advanced
(05:53):
degrees to get. And that's just not the story of
fast food. There are so many different people, all ages,
all backgrounds, all ethnicities that managed to create something special
in that post war era.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Madison Deicot, and a special thanks to
Adam Chandler, author of Drive Through Dreams. And by the way,
go to Allamericanstories dot com and you can hear the
full story of so many of the other fast food
and drive through restaurants that were formed and founded by
(06:33):
men and women just like Colonel Sanders. And this is
the distinct nature of this business. It didn't take a
PhD or a JD or a BS or even a
high school degree. He wanted to provide better service for
his customers and his gas station. He kicked around a
long time. In his sixties, he finally lives that American dream.
(06:55):
But boy does he hustle. And he's driving from town
to town selling his recipe and his patent. And by
the way, the number of people who got wealthy owning
KFCs and owning these restaurants, that's the other flip side
of this American dream. It wasn't just the product he
created fro him self, but the wealthy spread and by
the way, the yummy chicken. The story of Colonel Sanders
(07:18):
here on our American Stories. Lee Habib here, and I'm
inviting you to help our American Stories celebrate this country's
two hundred and fiftieth birthday coming soon. If you want
(07:38):
to help inspire countless others to love America like we do,
and want to help us bring the inspiring and important
stories told here about a good and beautiful country, please
consider making a tax deductible donation to our American Stories.
Go to Ouramerican Stories dot com and click the donate button.
Any amount helps go to Ouramerican Stories dot com and
(07:58):
give
Host
Lee Habeeb