COLONEL SANDERS

'Harland David Sanders', better known as 'Colonel Sanders' (September 9, 1890 – December 16, 1980) was the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). His image is used in the chain's advertising, and statues of him can be found at many KFC restaurants.

Contents

Early life and career

Death and legacy

Books

References

See also

External links

Early life and career

Sanders was born in Henryville, Indiana. His father died when he was five years old, and since his mother worked, he was required to cook for his family. He dropped out of school in seventh grade. During his teen years, Sanders worked many jobs, including firefighter, steamboat driver, insurance salesman, railroad worker, farmer, and enlisted in the Army as a private in 1907 in Cuba. Also was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha international fraternity.

At the age of 40, Sanders cooked chicken dishes for people who stopped at his service station in Corbin, Kentucky. Since he did not have a restaurant, he served customers in his living quarters in the service station. Eventually, his local popularity grew, and Sanders moved to a motel and restaurant that seated 142 people and worked as the chef. Over the next nine years, he perfected his method of cooking chicken that used the same eleven herbs and spices that are used today at KFC. Furthermore, he made use of a pressure cooker that allowed the chicken to be cooked much faster than pan-frying. He was given the honorary title "Kentucky colonel" in 1935 by Governor Ruby Laffoon. Unusually, Sanders chose to call himself "Colonel" and to dress in a stereotypical "southern gentleman" costume as a way of self-promotion. Sanders sold his franchise in 1964, although he remained their corporate spokesman until his death.

Death and legacy

Sanders passed away at the age of 90, on December 16, 1980, of leukemia. He was buried in his characteristic white suit and black bow tie in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky, after lying in state in the rotunda of the Kentucky State Capitol. A later cartoon version of Colonel Sanders (voiced by actor Randy Quaid) has appeared in more recent KFC commercials, and he has an almost-identical impersonator, Thomas Rost, to the considerable consternation of many in the Sanders family.
To this day, the Colonel's secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices remains one of the best-kept trade secrets in business. According to a profile of KFC done by the Food Network television show ''Unwrapped'', portions of the secret spice mix are made at different locations in the United States, and the only copy of the recipe is kept in a vault in corporate headquarters. In 1985, investigative journalist William Poundstone wrote a book, ''Big Secrets'' ISBN 0688048307 , which analyzed and revealed (among other things) the secret recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken (lab tests found only traces of salt, black pepper, and MSG, not eleven herbs and spices), and provided readers several methods for duplicating the product.

Books

★ Currell, Billy. 2006. ''Kentucky Fried Tender.'' ASIN B000JWMI9U.

★ Pearce, John, ''The Colonel'' (1982) ISBN 0-385-18122-1

★ The Kentucky Encyclopedia, Kleber, John J. et al., , , University of Kentucky Press, 1992, ISBN 0-8131-1772-0

References

1. Colonel Sanders. www.nndb.com
2. Harlan class=wikiexternal target=_blank>Sander's Family Tree www.geneology.com
3. Colonel Sanders. www.nndb.com

See also

★ Kentucky Fried Chicken

★ Curse of the Colonel

External links

★ Harland Sanders at the Internet Movie Database

★ ''This American Life'' radio program 145, originally aired 26 Nov 1999: "Do the Funky Chicken" (begins at 31m15s)

★ Photos of Colonel Sanders statues dressed in various costumes

★ Photo of a Colonel Sanders statue dressed as a samurai