KFC, also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken,[4] is an American fast food restaurant chain that specializes in fried chicken. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with almost 20,000 locations globally in 123 countries and territories as of December 2015. The chain is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, a restaurant company that also owns the Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and WingStreet chains.[5]
KFC was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders, 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 Utah in 1952. KFC popularized chicken in the fast food industry, diversifying the market by challenging the established dominance of the hamburger. By branding himself as "Colonel Sanders", Harland became a prominent figure of American cultural history, and his image remains widely used in KFC advertising. However, the company's rapid expansion overwhelmed the aging Sanders and he sold it to a group of investors led by John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey in 1964.
KFC was one of the first American fast food chains to expand internationally, opening outlets in Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Jamaica by the mid-1960s. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, it experienced mixed fortunes domestically, as it went through a series of changes in corporate ownership with little or no experience in the restaurant business. In the early 1970s, KFC was sold to the spirits distributor Heublein, which was taken over by the R.J. Reynolds food and tobacco conglomerate; that company sold the chain to PepsiCo. The chain continued to expand overseas, however, and in 1987, it became the first Western restaurant chain to open in China. It has since expanded rapidly in China, which is now the company's single largest market. PepsiCo spun off its restaurants division as Tricon Global Restaurants, which later changed its name to Yum! Brands.
KFC's original product is pressure fried chicken pieces, seasoned with Sanders' recipe of 11 herbs and spices. The constituents of the recipe represent a notable trade secret. Larger portions of fried chicken are served in a cardboard "bucket", which has become a well known feature of the chain since it was first introduced by franchisee Pete Harman in 1957. Since the early 1990s, KFC has expanded its menu to offer other chicken products such as chicken fillet sandwiches and wraps, as well as salads and side dishes, such as French fries and coleslaw, desserts, and soft drinks, the latter often supplied by PepsiCo. KFC is known for its slogans "It's Finger Lickin' Good!", "Nobody does chicken like KFC" and "So good".
KFC was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders, 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 Utah in 1952. KFC popularized chicken in the fast food industry, diversifying the market by challenging the established dominance of the hamburger. By branding himself as "Colonel Sanders", Harland became a prominent figure of American cultural history, and his image remains widely used in KFC advertising. However, the company's rapid expansion overwhelmed the aging Sanders and he sold it to a group of investors led by John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey in 1964.
KFC was one of the first American fast food chains to expand internationally, opening outlets in Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Jamaica by the mid-1960s. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, it experienced mixed fortunes domestically, as it went through a series of changes in corporate ownership with little or no experience in the restaurant business. In the early 1970s, KFC was sold to the spirits distributor Heublein, which was taken over by the R.J. Reynolds food and tobacco conglomerate; that company sold the chain to PepsiCo. The chain continued to expand overseas, however, and in 1987, it became the first Western restaurant chain to open in China. It has since expanded rapidly in China, which is now the company's single largest market. PepsiCo spun off its restaurants division as Tricon Global Restaurants, which later changed its name to Yum! Brands.
KFC's original product is pressure fried chicken pieces, seasoned with Sanders' recipe of 11 herbs and spices. The constituents of the recipe represent a notable trade secret. Larger portions of fried chicken are served in a cardboard "bucket", which has become a well known feature of the chain since it was first introduced by franchisee Pete Harman in 1957. Since the early 1990s, KFC has expanded its menu to offer other chicken products such as chicken fillet sandwiches and wraps, as well as salads and side dishes, such as French fries and coleslaw, desserts, and soft drinks, the latter often supplied by PepsiCo. KFC is known for its slogans "It's Finger Lickin' Good!", "Nobody does chicken like KFC" and "So good".
History
Harland Sanders was born in 1890 and raised on a farm outside Henryville, Indiana (near Louisville, Kentucky).[6] When Sanders was five years old, his father died, forcing his mother to work at a canning plant.[7] This left Sanders, as the eldest son, to care for his two younger siblings.[7] After he reached seven years of age, his mother taught him how to cook.[6] After leaving the family home at the age of 13, Sanders passed through several professions, with mixed success.[8] In 1930, he took over a Shell filling station on US Route 25 just outside North Corbin, Kentucky, a small town on the edge of the Appalachian Mountains.[9] It was here that he first served to travelers the recipes that he had learned as a child: fried chicken and other dishes such as steaks and country ham.[9] After four years of serving from his own dining room table, Sanders purchased the larger filling station on the other side of the road and expanded to six tables.[10]By 1936, this had proven successful enough for Sanders to be given the honorary title of Kentucky colonel by Governor Ruby Laffoon.[11] In 1937 he expanded his restaurant to 142 seats, and added a motel he purchased across the street, naming it Sanders Court & Café.[12]
Sanders was unhappy with the 35 minutes it took to prepare his chicken in an iron frying pan, but he refused to deep fry the chicken, which he believed lowered the quality of the product.[13] If he pre-cooked the chicken in advance of orders, there was sometimes wastage at day's end.[6] In 1939, the first commercial pressure cookers were released onto the market, mostly designed for steaming vegetables.[14] Sanders bought one, and modified it into a pressure fryer, which he then used to fry chicken.[15] The new method reduced production time to be comparable with deep frying, while, in the opinion of Sanders, retaining the quality of pan-fried chicken.[13]
In July 1940, Sanders finalised what came to be known as his "Original Recipe" of 11 herbs and spices.[16] Although he never publicly revealed the recipe, he admitted to the use of salt and pepper, and claimed that the ingredients "stand on everybody's shelf".[17] After being recommissioned as a Kentucky colonel in 1950 by Governor Lawrence Wetherby, Sanders began to dress the part, growing a goatee and wearing a black frock coat (later switched to a white suit), a string tie, and referring to himself as "Colonel".[17] His associates went along with the title change, "jokingly at first and then in earnest", according to biographer Josh Ozersky.[18]
The Sanders Court & Café generally served travelers, so when the route planned in 1955 for Interstate 75 bypassed Corbin, Sanders sold his properties and traveled the US to franchise his chicken recipe to restaurant owners.[19] Independent restaurants would pay four (later five) cents on each chicken as a franchise fee, in exchange for Sanders' "secret blend of herbs and spices" and the right to feature his recipe on their menus and use his name and likeness for promotional purposes.[20] In 1952 he had already successfully franchised his recipe to his friend Pete Harman of South Salt Lake, Utah, the operator of one of the city's largest restaurants.[21]
Don Anderson, a sign painter hired by Harman, coined the name "Kentucky Fried Chicken".[22] 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.[22] Harman trademarked the phrase "It's finger lickin' good", which eventually became the company-wide slogan.[20] He also introduced the "bucket meal" in 1957 (14 pieces of chicken, five bread rolls and a pint of gravy in a cardboard bucket).[23] Serving their signature meal in a paper bucket was to become an iconic feature of the company.[23]
By 1963 there were 600 KFC restaurants, making the company the largest fast food operation in the United States.[19] KFC popularized chicken in the fast food industry, diversifying the market by challenging the established dominance of the hamburger.[24]
In 1964, Sanders sold the company to a group of investors led by John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey for US$2 million (around US$15 million in 2013).[11] The contract included a lifetime salary for Sanders and the agreement that he would be the company's quality controller and trademark.[25]The chain had reached 3,000 outlets in 48 different countries by 1970.[26] In July 1971, Brown sold the company to the Connecticut-based Heublein, a packaged food and drinks corporation, for US$285 million (around US$1.6 billion in 2013).[27] Sanders died in 1980, his promotional work making him a prominent figure in American cultural history.[24] By the time of his death, there were an estimated 6,000 KFC outlets in 48 different countries worldwide, with $2 billion of sales annually.[28]
In 1982, Heublein was acquired by R. J. Reynolds, the tobacco giant.[23] In July 1986, Reynolds sold KFC to PepsiCo for $850 million (around US$1.8 billion in 2013).[29] PepsiCo made the chain a part of its restaurants division alongside Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.[30] The Chinese market was entered in November 1987, with an outlet in Beijing.[23]
In 1991, the KFC name was officially adopted, although it was already widely known by that initialism.[31] Kyle Craig, president of KFC US, admitted the change was an attempt to distance the chain from the unhealthy connotations of "fried".[32] The early 1990s saw a number of successful major products launched throughout the chain, including spicy "Hot Wings" (launched in 1990), popcorn chicken (1992), and internationally, the "Zinger", a spicy chicken fillet burger (1993).[33] By 1994, KFC had 5,149 outlets in the US, and 9,407 overall, with over 100,000 employees.[34] In August 1997, PepsiCo spun off its restaurants division as a public company valued at US$4.5 billion (around US$6.5 billion in 2013).[35]The new company was named Tricon Global Restaurants, and at the time had 30,000 outlets and annual sales of US$10 billion (around US$14 billion in 2013), making it second in the world only to McDonald's.[36] Tricon was renamed Yum! Brands in May 2002.[37]
By 2015, the company was struggling, having lost business to other retailers and being surpassed by Chick-fil-A as the leading chicken retailer three years previously. To combat this, the company launched a new initiative with a plan to revamp its packaging, decor and uniforms, as well as expanding its menu. Additionally, beginning in May 2015, a new series of advertisements was launched featuring Darrell Hammond as Colonel Sanders.[38] Subsequently, in a planned rotation of actors, Norm Macdonald, Jim Gaffigan, George Hamiltonand Rob Riggle portrayed Sanders in similar ads through the fall of 2016. In January 2018, Country Music icon Reba McEntire was chosen to be KFC's first female Colonel Sanders.
KFC is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, one of the largest restaurant companies in the world. KFC had sales of $23 billion in 2013.[3] KFC 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.[45][46] The headquarters contain executive offices and the company's research and development facilities.[47] KFC is incorporated at 1209 North Orange St, Wilmington, Delaware.[48]
By December 2013, there were 18,875 KFC outlets in 118 countries and territories around the world.[1] There are 4,563 outlets in China, 4,491 in the United States, and 9,821 across the rest of the world.[1] Outlets are owned by franchisees or directly by the company.[49] Eleven percent of outlets are company owned, with the rest operated by franchise holders.[50] Although capital intensive, company ownership allows for faster expansion of the chain.[51]
Most restaurants are furnished with images of the company founder, Colonel Harland Sanders.[47] As well as dine-in and take-out, many stand-alone KFC outlets offer a drive-through option.[52] KFC offers a limited delivery service in a small number of markets.[52] Units include express concessions and kiosks which feature a limited menu and operated in non-traditional locations such as filling stations, convenience stores, stadia, theme parks and colleges, where a full scale outlet would not be practical.[52] Average annual sales per unit was $1.2 million in 2013.[53] Worldwide, the daily average number of food orders at an outlet is 250, with most occurring within a two-hour peak-period.[54]
As chairman and CEO of Yum!, David C. Novak ultimately has foremost responsibility for KFC operations.[2] Sam Su is chairman and CEO of Yum!'s Chinese operations, and Muktesh Pant is the CEO of KFC.[2] Richard T. Carucci is president of Yum!, and Roger Eaton is the COO of Yum! and the president of KFC.[2]
Africa
The company hopes to expand its African operations, where it is already the regional leader among US fast food chains.[55][56] The company is slowly expanding across the African continent, opening 70 outlets, but progress has been hampered by sourcing issues, such as a lack of quality suppliers.[51]
Asia
KFC continues to grow in Asia.
In Sri Lanka, KFC was launched in 1995 at Majestic City. There were 25 KFC restaurants in Sri Lanka as of December 2014.[57]
In Singapore, the first KFC franchise was opened in 1977 along Somerset Road. In 1993, KFC Singapore was the first KFC in Asia to develop and launch the Zinger burger. KFC restaurants in Singapore are currently owned and operated by KFC (Malaysia) Holdings Bhd.[58]
In Bangladesh, the first KFC outlet was opened at Gulshan in 2006. As of June 2016, the country is home to 19 KFC outlets.[59][60]
In Myanmar, the first KFC outlet was officially opened on Bogyoke Aung San Road in Yangon in 2015.[62][63]
In Pakistan, KFC has a presence in eighteen major cities of Pakistan (Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sukkur, Muree etc.) with more than 65 outlets nationwide. Its first outlet was in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi. KFC Pakistan menu consists of burgers, fried chicken, nuggets, fries, rice dishes and drinks.[64]
In Taiwan, KFC entered the market in 1984 and opened its first store in 1985 in Taipei City. The 100th store in Taiwan opened in 1999. It was the second largest fast food chain restaurant in Taiwan until Mos Burger exceeded the number of branches of KFC in 2008. Now KFC is the third largest fast food chain restaurant with 137 stores as of 2017.[65]
China
KFC is the largest restaurant chain in China, with 5,003 outlets as of 2015.[66] They are operated by the Yum! China division. KFC became the first Western fast food company in China after its first outlet opened in Qianmen, Beijing, in November 1987.[67]
Local food items include rice congee and tree fungus salad, with an average of 50 different menu items per store.[67][68]
In December 2012, the chain faced allegations that some of its suppliers injected antiviral drugs and growth hormones into poultry in ways that violated food safety regulations.[69]This resulted in the chain severing its relationship with 100 suppliers, and agreeing to "actively co-operate" with a government investigation into its use of antibiotics.[67] KFC China sales in January 2013 were down 41 percent against the previous year.[70] To counter sluggish sales, the menu was revamped in 2014.[71]
In July 2014, Chinese authorities closed down the Shanghai operations of the OSI Group, amidst allegations that it had supplied KFC with expired meat.[72] Yum! immediately terminated its contract with the supplier, and stated that the revelation had led to a "significant [and] negative" decline in sales.[73]
India
There are 350 KFC outlets in India.[66] The company has adapted the standard KFC offerings to Indian tastes[75] and the menu options in India include the Hot & Crispy Chicken and Fiery Grilled bucket options, Chicken Zinger Burger, Rice Bowlz, the more recently launched 5-in-1 Meal Box and a range of shakes called Krushers.[76] The business was refranchised in October 2015 after Yum concluded a year-and-a-half-long exercise to reorganize its business under larger, well-capitalized franchisees. In this regard, about a third of its outlets, operated by several of its franchisees, have been sold to a newly formed entity—Sapphire Foods India Pvt. Ltd. The new entity is owned by a consortium of four private equity funds, led by Samara Capital. The other investors are CX Partners, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and a fourth fund, said a top executive at the local arm of the American food company.[77]
The first Indian KFC was a two-storey outlet on the fashionable Brigade Road in Bangalore in June 1995.[78] According to journalist Michael White, the company could not have chosen a "more difficult venue for its maiden entrée into the country".[79] Bangalore housed the headquarters of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, one of the most influential, vocal and anti-foreign investment farmers' associations in the country.[79] The first outlet suffered protests from anti-globalisation and environmental campaigners, as well as local farmers, who objected to the chain bypassing local producers.[80] Many[quantify] Indians were concerned about the onslaught of consumerism, the loss of national self-sufficiency, and the disruption of indigenous traditions.[81] The protests came to a head in August 1995, when the Bangalore outlet was repeatedly ransacked.[78] The KFC outlet in Bangalore demanded, and received, a police van permanently parked outside for a year.[80] The outlet was closed on September 13, 1995 by local authorities, who claimed the company used illegally high amounts of monosodium glutamate (MSG) in its food.[82] The outlet re-opened a few hours later as the result of an appeal by KFC to the Karnataka High Court. The company stated the recipe was no different than that used in any other KFC store.[83] Rural activist M. D. Nanjundaswamyclaimed KFC would adversely affect the health of the impoverished, by diverting grain from poor people to make the more profitable animal feed.[84] Environmentalist Maneka Gandhi joined the anti-KFC movement.[84] A second outlet opened in Delhi, but was closed by the authorities throughout November, purportedly for health reasons, but more likely to avoid a repetition of the Bangalore incident.[85] The Delhi outlet soon closed permanently.[86]
KFC began to expand outside of Bangalore in 2004,[87] with a localized menu that was the most extensive meat-free menu across the chain's worldwide operations. It introduced a vegetarian menu that included rice meals, wraps and side dishes and, like McDonald's, served eggless mayonnaise and sauces. Unnat Varma, marketing director of KFC India, states "The vegetarian offerings have made the brand more relevant to a larger section of consumers and that is necessary for KFC's growth." KFC also began using Indian spices and cooking techniques to localize its chicken dishes. By 2008–09, KFC operated 34 outlets in India.[88] In 2014, KFC launched the "So Veg, So Good" menu as part of an India-specific promotional strategy focused on enhancing their vegetarian range. The company has been up to a lot of innovation over the past few months with the launch of the first-ever no crust, all chicken KFC Chizza in December 2016.[89] More recently, KFC got Mumbai's dabbawalas to deliver its newly launched 5-in-1 Meal Boxes. The city's dabbawalas, famed for their efficient delivery of office lunches, took on the role of KFC delivery men as part of an innovative marketing campaign. They supplied specially created 5-in-1 meal boxes to some office-goers instead of their regular dabbas.[90] The innovation efforts have continued with the launch of the Watt a Box, a practical new take on the 5-in-1 Meal Box, which can also charge phones.[91]
Indonesia
In Indonesia KFC is the largest Western restaurant chain, with 466 outlets as of December 2013.[1][92] The chain has grown to hold an estimated 32 percent market share, and menu items include spaghetti, wraps and chicken porridge.[93] The master franchisee is PT Fastfood Indonesia.[94]
The first outlet opened in Jakarta in 1979.[94] Salim Group, Indonesia's largest conglomerate, became a major shareholder in 1990, which provided the company with funds for major expansion.[94] Its master franchisee, PT Fastfood Indonesia, was publicly listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange in 1993.[94]
Japan
KFC Japan was formed in 1970 as a joint venture between the American parent and the Japanese Mitsubishi Corporation.[95] In December 1974, KFC Japan began to promote fried chicken as a Christmas meal.[96] Eating KFC as a Christmas time meal has since become a widely practiced custom in Japan.[97] As of 2013, Japan is the third-largest market for KFC after China and the United States with 1,200 outlets.[98]
In December 2007, Mitsubishi assumed majority control of KFC Japan in a JP¥ 14.83 billion transaction.[99]
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