The Man Who Was a Founder AND Mascot: KFC's Colonel Sanders

On this episode of Our American Stories, Colonel Sanders did something that no other restaurant founder dared to do — he became his company’s own mascot and brand ambassador! Here to share the story of KFC and a little about who Colonel Sanders was is Adam Chandler, author of Drive Thru Dreams.

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Episode Transcript

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 Kentucky Fried Chicken. Colonel Sanders
did something that no other restaurant founder dared to do.
He became his company's own mascot and brand ambassador. Here

(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. Guy who was born into poverty,

(01:03):
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 for the

(01:26):
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

(01:46):
entire focus is trying to beat out 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. He creates

(02:11):
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 idea

(02:32):
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.

(02:55):
Eventually he started opening these standalone stores. 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,

(03:19):
he would have been fine 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

(03:40):
his product. And you know, 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
one Roald Sanders, and everybody knows who he is. He

(04:06):
gets on television, he's in movies, 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

(04:28):
the hard way, the way that 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 you didn't need a

(04:52):
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 a business model

(05:13):
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 that part of

(05:34):
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 degrees to get.
And that's just not the story of fast food. There

(05:58):
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 Dericot, and a special thanks to
Adam Chandler, author of Drive Through Dreams, and by the way,
go to Alamerican Stories 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

(06:33):
by 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

(06:54):
American dream. 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

(07:16):
Colonel Sanders here on our American Story folks, I you
love the great American stories we tell and love America
like we do. We're asking you to become a part

(07:37):
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