KFC 'Father' fried chicken: Evidence for success from passion and steadfast pursuit

Whether you like KFC or not, the success story of the Honorable Colonel Kentucky - Harland Sanders , as well as the "ancestor" of this legendary dish is really a very meaningful lesson. Because this is a testament to the affirmation that perseverance, dedication, ambition and non-stop working spirit can create success, regardless of age.

Harland Sanders (1890-1980) was born into a poor peasant family in Indiana state. When Sanders was 6 years old, his father died so he had to take care of his younger brother and sister while the mother worked hard all day to support the family. As a energetic boy, Sanders owned a skillful cooking skill when he was 7 years old.

When he was 12 years old, his mother remarried. The stepfather did not like boys in the house so his brother was moved to live with her aunt and he was taken to a farm 80 miles away from home. Soon, Sanders realized that he liked to work all day more at school, so he dropped out of school when he was in grade 7.

In addition to serving in the Cuban army, Sanders also "spent" his first half of his life doing a lot of other things to earn a living like burning stoves on fire trips across the South, selling insurance, selling tires, making electric worker or ferry driver .

In 1930, Sanders received a job in a small restaurant at a gas station in Corbin (Kentucky) and every day, he served customers with traditional Southern dishes. Gradually, his restaurant became famous, more popular and he decided to expand it into a restaurant.

In 1939, Sanders realized that chicken frying combined with 11 flavors and herbs in a new device - a pressure cooker (completely different from what is used today) has created a merit. Extremely wonderful recipes that he always sought.

Within 10 years, Sanders' restaurant began to gain popularity and received the support of many people. In 1950, the Governor of Kentucky awarded Sanders the title of colonel to honor his contributions to the region's culinary arts. Sanders began wearing white clothes, tie the "Honor Colonel Kentucky" tie that made him a symbol of traditional culture.

In 1952, Sanders agreed with Pete Harman - a friend who was the owner of a restaurant that sold his chicken under the brand "Kentucky Fried Chicken" in exchange for a 4-cent sale per piece of chicken sold. . After it became one of the best-selling things, Sanders made this agreement with many other local restaurants.

Everything went smoothly but when the federal highway project passed through Sanders' restaurant along with the economic downturn, he went bankrupt. He had to sell his business with enough money to pay taxes and live on social assistance - at that time about 105 USD / month. However, he decided not to retire and refused to be defeated.

Since closing the restaurant, Sanders has spent most of his time doing the work he had done four years earlier: convincing restaurant owners to sell his fried chicken. He took to the streets with his wife and car carrying some pressure cookers, flour and spices. He went to a restaurant, asked them to cook his chicken and then, if they liked the dish, he would make an agreement.

Although it was a lucky start, at the age of 60, when it was supposed to be his time after a hard work to earn a living, Harland Sanders continued to pursue his passion by knock on each store, finance his fried chicken, hoping to have a restaurant accepting franchises. However, he was denied up to 1,009 times and dreamed of promoting his fried chicken to everyone only when he was 65 years old.

Until 1963, Sanders no longer had to travel much more when franchise requests continued to transfer to him and at that time there were more than 600 restaurants throughout the United States and Canada selling chickens under the Kentucky Fried Chicken brand. 10 years of traveling with his passion, he finally fulfilled his dream: to bring his food to more people in the world.

Since then, his fried chicken has become increasingly known by many people and when the business is out of control, Sanders has decided to sell the brand to a group of people. They formed Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation and invited him to be "Goodwill Ambassador". Under the management of the new owner, Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation developed rapidly and made equitization public in 1966, entering the New York stock market in 1969 and buying it from PepsiCo. again in 1986. In 1997, PepsiCo transferred the fast-food restaurant system, including the KFC brand, to YUM Group ! International Restaurants (once known as Tricon Global Restaurant). Today, KFC is the world's largest restaurant serving fried chicken with over 10,000 restaurants and is present in 92 countries.

The image of Harland Sanders existed in the mind of the KFC fried chicken lover in the world: the Colonel with a happy face, thick glasses, silver beard and a bright smile.

Talking about the success of Harland Sanders, not only is the passion, tireless working spirit, but more importantly, the quality of food and service attitude. In order to increase customer confidence in the hygienic quality of the restaurant, he placed the kitchen right behind the counter so that they could observe the processing of food; choose white paint for the store so that any dirty writing is promptly detected and processed immediately. Sanders thinks the guest dining table must be as clean and bright as possible. He also regularly visits unexpected facilities to check the process of processing dishes to ensure the recipe, process and safety. He traveled 200,000 miles a year to visit KFC restaurants around the world.

Harland Sanders is a typical example of a constant example of constant dreams and efforts. Let's talk about that.