Business, history and overview of KFC

KFC Corporation (KFC), founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept[2] of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global Restaurants Inc.

KFC primarily sells chicken pieces, wraps, salads and sandwiches. While its primary focus is fried chicken, KFC also offers a line of grilled and roasted chicken products, side dishes and desserts. Outside North America, KFC offers beef based products such as hamburgers or kebabs, pork based products such as ribs and other regional fare. The company was founded as Kentucky Fried Chicken by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1952, though the idea of KFC’s fried chicken actually goes back to 1930. Although Sanders died in 1980, he remains an important part of the company’s branding and advertisements, and “Colonel Sanders” or “The Colonel” is a metonym for the company itself. The company adopted KFC, an abbreviated form of its name, in 1991.[3] Starting in April 2007, the company began using its original name, Kentucky Fried Chicken, for its signage, packaging and advertisements in the U.S. as part of a new corporate re-branding program;[4][5] newer and remodeled restaurants will have the new logo and name while older stores will continue to use the 1980s signage. Additionally, Yum! continues to use the abbreviated name freely in its advertising.In 1939, Colonel Harland Sanders first gave the world a taste of his most famous creation, Original Recipe? Kentucky Fried Chicken, featuring that secret blend of 11 herbs. In 1952, he signed up his first franchisee and thus began the legend that is KFC, the largest chicken fast-food empire in the world. Millions of people have come to love his one of a kind chicken, home-style side dishes and hot and fresh biscuits.

Today, more than a billion of the Colonel’s “finger lickin’ good” chicken dinners are served annually. And not just in North America. The Colonel’s cooking is available in more than 80 countries and territories around the world. And with Yum! Brands, you can bring one to YOUR city.KFC is just one brand owned by Yum! Brands, Inc. Yum! Brands also owns A&W All-American Food Restaurants, Long John Silvers, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants, and is the world’s largest restaurant company in terms of system units with nearly 32,500 in more than 100 countries and territories.

History

9/9/1890

Harland Sanders is born just outside Henryville, Indiana.

1900-1924

Harland Sanders holds a variety of jobs including: farm hand, streetcar conductor, army private in Cuba, blacksmith’s helper, railyard fireman, insurance salesman, tire salesman and service station operator for Standard Oil.

1930

In the midst of the depression, Harland Sanders opens his first restaurant in the small front room of a gas station in Corbin, Kentucky. Sanders serves as station operator, chief cook and cashier and names the dining area “Sanders Court & Caf?”

1936

Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon makes Harland Sanders an honorary Kentucky Colonel in recognition of his contributions to the state’s cuisine.

1937

The Sanders Court & Caf?adds a motel and expands the restaurant to 142 seats.

1939

The Sanders Court & Caf?is first listed in Duncan Hines’ “Adventures in Good Eating.”

Fire destroys The Sanders Court & Caf? but it is rebuilt and reopened.

The pressure cooker is introduced. Soon thereafter Colonel Sanders begins using it to fry his chicken to give customers fresh chicken, faster.

1940

Birthdate of the Original Recipe

1949

Sanders marries Claudia Price.

1952

The Colonel begins actively franchising his chicken business by traveling from town to town and cooking batches of chicken for restaurant owners and employees.

The Colonel awards Pete Harman of Salt Lake City with the first KFC franchise. A handshake agreement stipulates a payment of a nickel to Sanders for each chicken sold.

1955

An interstate highway is built to bypass Corbin, Kentucky. Sanders sells the service station on the same day that he receives his first social security check for $105. After paying debts owed, he is virtually broke. He decides to go on the road to sell his Secret Recipe to restaurants.

1957

Kentucky Fried Chicken first sold in buckets

1960

The Colonel’s hard work on the road begins to pay off and there are 190 KFC franchisees and 400 franchise units in the U.S. and Canada.

1964

Kentucky Fried Chicken has more than 600 franchised outlets in the United States, Canada and the first overseas outlet, in England.

Sanders sells his interest in the U.S. company for $2 million to a group of investors headed by John Y. Brown Jr., future governor of Kentucky. The Colonel remains a public spokesman for the company.

1965

Colonel Sanders receives the Horatio Alger Award from the American Schools and Colleges Association.

1966

The Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation goes public.

1969

The Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

1971

More than 3,500 franchised and company-owned restaurants are in worldwide operation when Heublein Inc. acquires KFC Corporation.

1976

An independent survey ranks the Colonel as the world’s second most recognizable celebrity.

1977

Colonel Sanders speaks before a U.S. Congressional Committee on Aging.

1979

KFC cooks up 2.7 billion pieces of chicken. There are approximately 6,000 KFC restaurants worldwide with sales of more than $2 billion.

12/16/1980

Colonel Harland Sanders, who came to symbolize quality in the food industry, dies after being stricken with leukemia. Flags on all Kentucky state buildings fly at half-staff for four days.

1982

Kentucky Fried Chicken becomes a subsidiary of R.J. Reynolds Industries, Inc. (now RJR Nabisco, Inc.) when Heublein, Inc. is acquired by Reynolds.

1986

PepsiCo, Inc. acquires KFC from RJR Nabisco, Inc.

1997

PepsiCo, Inc. announces the spin-off of its quick service restaurants – KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut – into Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc.

2002

Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., the world’s largest restaurant company, changes its corporate name to YUM! Brands, Inc. In addition to KFC, the company owns A&W?All-American Food?Restaurants, Long John Silvers? Pizza Hut?and Taco Bell?restaurants.

2006

More than a billion of the Colonel’s “finger lickin’ good” chicken dinners are served annually in more than 80 countries and territories around the world.

2007

KFC proudly introduces a new recipe that keeps the Colonel’s 11 herbs and spices and finger-lickin’ flavor, but contains Zero Grams of Trans Fat per serving thanks to new cooking oil.

2008

The Colonel has a new look! KFC updates one of the most recognized, respected and beloved brand icons with a new logo. The new logo depicts Colonel Sanders with his signature string tie, but for the first time, replaces his classic white, double-breasted suit with a red apron. The apron symbolizes the home-style culinary heritage of the brand and reminds customers that KFC is always in the kitchen cooking delicious, high-quality, freshly prepared chicken by hand, just the way Colonel Sanders did 50 years ago.

2009

KFC introduces Kentucky Grilled Chicken?- a better-for-you option for health conscious consumers who love the flavor of KFC. Kentucky Grilled Chicken has less calories, fat and sodium than KFC抯 Original Recipe?chicken, without sacrificing the great taste of KFC.

Products

Chicken

KFC’s specialty is fried chicken served in various forms. KFC’s primary product is pressure-fried pieces of chicken made with the original recipe. The other chicken offering, extra crispy, is made using a garlic marinade and double dipping the chicken in flour before deep frying in a standard industrial kitchen type machine.

Kentucky Grilled Chicken – This marinated grilled chicken is targeted towards health-conscious customers. It features marinated breasts, thighs, drumsticks, and wings that are coated with seasonings before being grilled. It has less fat, calories, and sodium than the Original Recipe fried chicken.[27] Introduced in April 2009.

KFC has two lines of sandwiches: its “regular” chicken sandwiches and its Snackers line. The regular sandwiches are served on either a sesame seed or corn dusted roll and are made from either whole breast fillets (fried or roasted), chopped chicken in a sauce or fried chicken strips. The Snackers line are value priced items that consist of chicken strips and various toppings. In the UK, Australia and New Zealand, sandwiches are referred to as “burgers”; there is the chicken fillet burger (a chicken breast fillet coated in an original-recipe coating with salad garnish and mayonnaise) and a Zinger Burger (as with the former but with a spicier coating and salsa). Both of these are available as “tower” variants, which include a slice of cheese and a hash brown.

KFC considers its Double Down product a sandwich in spite of containing no bread.

A variety of smaller finger food products are available at KFC including chicken strips, wings, nuggets and popcorn chicken. These products can be ordered plain or with various sauces, including several types of barbecue sauces and buffalo sauce. They also offer potato wedges.

Several pies have been made available from KFC. The Pot Pie is a savory pie made with chicken, gravy and vegetables. In the second quarter of 2006, KFC introduced its variation on Shepherd’s pie called the Famous Bowl. Served in a plastic bowl, it is layered with mashed potatoes or rice, gravy, corn, popcorn chicken, and cheese, and is served with a biscuit. The bowl had been available at KFC’s special test market store in Louisville since the third quarter of 2005.

The KFC Twister is a wrap that consists of either chicken strips or roasted chicken, tomato, lettuce and (pepper) mayonnaise wrapped in a tortilla. In Europe, the Twister is sold in two varieties: 1) the Grilled Twister (chicken strips),[28][29][30] and 2) the Grilled Mexican twister/Spicy Toasted Twister (UK) (chicken breast supplemented by tortilla chips and salsa, UK: adds only salsa to pepper mayonnaise),[31][32][33]

KFC Fillers are a 9 in (23 cm) sub, available in four varieties over the summer period in Australia.

Shish kebab – in several markets KFC sells kebabs.

Kentucky Barbecued Chicken – barbecued chicken dipped in the original recipe

Wrapstar is a variant of the KFC Twister, consisting of chicken strips with salsa, cheese, salad, pepper mayonnaise and other ingredients, contained in a compressed tortilla.[34][35]

Other products

Coleslaw

In some international locations, KFC may sell hamburgers, pork ribs or fish. In the U.S., KFC began offering the Fish Snacker sandwich during Lent in 2006. The Fish Snacker consists of a rectangular patty of Alaskan Pollock on a small bun, and is the fifth KFC menu item in the Snacker category.[36]

Some international locations also may sell KFC ‘Mashies’ – balls of mashed potato cooked in original recipe batter [37]

Three types of salads (which can be topped with roasted or fried chicken) are available at KFC: Caesar, house, and BLT salads (in the US).

The Boneless Banquet

Zinger Burger – A regular sized burger which regularly consists of a boneless fillet of hot and spicy chicken, lettuce and mayonnaise in a burger bun. Cheese, tomato, bacon and pineapple can be added upon request. Barbecue sauce can also replace/join the mayonnaise.

Chili Cheese Fries[38] – By 2007, 2 former KFC/A&W Restaurants locations in Berlin and Cologne, Germany had reverted to KFC-only locations and the third location in Garbsen (by Hannover) was closed in 2005. The only remnant from the former A&W menu are the Chili Cheese Fries which were added to the systemwide KFC Germany menu.

Parfait desserts – “Little Bucket Parfaits” in varieties such as Fudge Brownie, Chocolate Crème (once called the Colonel’s Little Fudge Bucket), Lemon Crème and Strawberry Shortcake are available at most locations in the US.[39]

Sara Lee Desserts – Available in either Cookies and Cream Cheesecake or Choc Caramel Mousse.

Krushers, available in Australia, South Africa, India and New Zealand. These are drinks containing “real bits”. They include “classic krushers”, “smoothie krushers” and “fruit krushers”. Selected outlets are now equipped with “Krushbars” to serve these drinks.

KFC Nigeria Takes Fast Food Business to New Height

Joseph Ekeng

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), the latest entrant into Nigeria’s fast growing fast foods industry, says it has come to raise the bar in the food and restaurant market in Nigeria, by offering the same international quality and standard it is globally known for.

KFC is one of the biggest restaurants in the world, serving over 12 million people every day. The American food chain says its decision to come into the Nigerian market at this point is timely as it was reached after some research and study of the local environment.

The food company which has already opened it first outlet at the popular City Mall, Onikan,

is by all standard world class and is manned by over 25 Nigerian employees who were sent on international training to ensure strict quality control and to retain the local content of its operations. They are joined by some expatriate staff.

The company has also embarked on extensive food safety audits and hygiene test of various suppliers’ facilities to ensure they met the highest local and international standard. Besides suppliers were trained extensively, and sent to the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) courses to ensure that the global standard set by Yum Restaurants International, the franchisor, are met,” Marc Schreuder, CEO of Devyani International, said at the launch.

Devyani International, the franchisee, is a joint venture company between RJ Corp of India and Chellaram Plc. The company was incorporated in 2009 for the purpose of owning and operating KFC restaurants in agreement with Yum Restaurant International.

Schreuder says that KFC, which presently owns 13 000 outlets around the world, including Uganda, Malawi and Zambia, plans to open several other outlets across the country.

KFC to open 20 restaurants in Nigeria during 2011

US-based restaurant group Yum! Brands is planning to open 20 KFC outlets in Nigeria during 2011.

“We’ve got six stores there now and we are going to build 20 next year,” said Keith Warren, Yum!’s general manger for Africa, during the company’s recent investor and analyst conference.

Yum! forecasts that it will have 300 KFC restaurants in Nigeria by 2020.

The first Nigerian KFC restaurant opened in December last year. “We always knew a 150 million people . . . eating chicken on the bone as their primary protein, had to be a good thing for KFC, but we didn’t quite know how good a thing it was going to be,” said Warren.

Warren explained that the biggest challenges of operating in Nigeria is dealing with the poor infrastructure and bureaucracy as well as finding the right partners.

KFC in Nigeria is currently a joint-venture between an existing Indian franchisee of the company and a local Nigerian.

In his presentation Warren outlined Yum!’s African growth plans. The company plans to operate 2,100 stores in Africa by 2020 – 1,100 in South Africa and 1,000 in the rest of the continent.

“KFC is desperately desired in [Africa], Nigeria is just one of many [countries],” Warren added.