KFC
Encyclopedia
KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurant
s based in Louisville
, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands
since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo
as Tricon Global Restaurants Inc.
KFC primarily sells chicken
pieces, wraps
, salad
s and sandwich
es. While its primary focus is fried chicken
, KFC also offers a line of grilled and roasted chicken products, side dish
es and desserts. Outside the USA, KFC offers beef based products such as hamburger
s or kebabs, poutine, 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. Newer and remodeled restaurants will adopt 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.
Born and raised in Henryville, Indiana
, Sanders passed through several professions in his lifetime. Sanders first served his fried chicken in 1930 in the midst of the Great Depression
at a gas station
he owned in North Corbin, Kentucky
. The dining area was named Sanders Court & Café
and was so successful that in 1935 Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon
granted Sanders the title of honorary Kentucky Colonel
in recognition of his contribution to the state's cuisine. The following year Sanders expanded his restaurant to 142 seats, and added a motel
he bought across the street. When Sanders prepared his chicken in his original restaurant in North Corbin, he prepared the chicken in an iron skillet, which took about 30 minutes to do, too long for a restaurant operation. In 1939, Sanders altered the cooking process for his fried chicken to use a pressure fryer, resulting in a greatly reduced cooking time comparable to that of deep frying
. In 1940 Sanders devised what came to be known as his Original Recipe.
The Sanders Court & Café generally served travelers, often those headed to Florida, so when the route planned in the 1950s for what would become Interstate 75
bypassed Corbin
, he sold his properties and traveled the U.S. to sell his chicken to restaurant owners. The first to take him up on the offer was Pete Harman
in South Salt Lake, Utah
; together, they opened the first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" outlet in 1952. By the early 1960s, Kentucky Fried Chicken was sold in over 600 franchised outlets in both the United States and Canada. One of the longest-lived franchisees of the older Col. Sanders' chicken concept, as opposed to the KFC chain, was the Kenny Kings chain. The company owned many Northern Ohio diner-style restaurants, the last of which closed in 2004.
Sanders sold the entire KFC franchising
operation in 1964 for $2million USD, equal to $ today. Since that time, the chain has been sold three more times: to Heublein
in 1971, to R.J. Reynolds in 1982 and most recently to PepsiCo
in 1986, which made it part of its Tricon Global Restaurants
division, which in turn was spun off in 1997, and has now been renamed to Yum! Brands
.
In 2001, KFC started tests in Austin, Texas restaurants of "Wing Works" chicken wing line sold with one of a few flavored sauces. Also, KFC hired a consultant to develop a breakfast menu.
Additionally, Colonel Sanders' nephew, Lee Cummings, took his own Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises (and a chicken recipe of his own) and converted them to his own "spin-off" restaurant chain
, Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken
.
. Portions of the secret spice mix are made at different locations in the United States, and the only complete, handwritten copy of the recipe is kept in a vault in corporate headquarters.
On September 9, 2008, the one complete copy was temporarily moved to an undisclosed location under extremely tight security while KFC revamped the security at its headquarters. Before the move, KFC disclosed that the recipe, which includes exact amounts of each component, is written in pencil on a single sheet of notebook paper and signed by Sanders. It was locked in a filing cabinet with two separate combination locks. The cabinet also included vials of each of the 11 herbs and spices used. Only two unnamed executives had access to the recipe at any one time. One of the two executives said that no one had come close to guessing the contents of the secret recipe, and added that the actual recipe would include some surprises. On February 9, 2009, the secret recipe returned to KFC's Louisville headquarters in a more secure, computerized vault guarded by motion detector
s and security cameras. Reportedly, the paper has yellowed
and the handwriting is now faint.
In 1983, writer William Poundstone
examined the recipe in his book Big Secrets
. He reviewed Sanders' patent application, and advertised in college newspapers for present or former employees willing to share their knowledge. From the former he deduced that Sanders had diverged from other common fried-chicken recipes by varying the amount of oil used with the amount of chicken being cooked, and starting the cooking at a higher temperature (about 400 °F) for the first minute or so and then lowering it to 250 °F for the remainder of the cooking time. Several of Poundstone's contacts also provided samples of the seasoning mix, and a food lab found that it consisted solely of sugar, flour, salt, black pepper
and monosodium glutamate
(MSG). He concluded that it was entirely possible that, in the years since Sanders sold the chain, later owners had begun skimping on the recipe to save costs. Following his buyout in 1964, Colonel Sanders himself expressed anger at such changes, saying:
Ron Douglas, author of the book America's Most Wanted Recipes, also claims to have figured out KFC's secret recipe.
restaurants founder Dave Thomas
. Thomas was originally a franchisee of the original Kentucky Fried Chicken and operated several outlets in the Columbus, Ohio
area. His reasoning behind using the paper packaging was that it helped keep the chicken crisp by wicking away excess moisture. Thomas was also responsible for the creation of the famous rotating bucket sign that came to be used at most KFC locations in the US.
, which increases the risk of heart disease
.
In the United States, the Center for Science in the Public Interest
(CSPI) filed a court case against KFC with the aim of making it use other types of oils or make sure customers know about trans fat content immediately before they buy food. In October 2006, KFC said it would begin frying its chicken in trans fat-free oil (<0.5g per serving) in the United States. This would also apply to their potato wedges and other fried foods, however, the biscuits, macaroni and cheese
, and mashed potatoes would still contain trans fat. Trans fat-free soybean
oil was introduced in all KFC restaurants in the U.S. by April 30, 2007, and CSPI dropped its lawsuit.
However, outside the United States the company has continued to use other types of oil that have drawn criticism over their health effects. In Australia, KFC was reported to be using palm oil with up to 1 per cent trans-fat and 52 per cent saturated fat content as late as 2007, after restaurants in the United States had changed to trans-fat free oil.
can be seen in the hands of both Annette Funicello and Dwayne Hickman in 1965's How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
, and was also featured prominently in the 1968 Peter Sellers
vehicle, The Party
. KFC itself was featured in 1980's Superman II
. The Colonel made appearances as himself in Jerry Lewis
's The Big Mouth
(1967), Herschell Gordon Lewis
' Blast-Off Girls
(1967) and Al Adamson
's Hell's Bloody Devils (1970), as well as an appearance in 1968 on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
.
Before he became a platinum-selling pop star in the 1970s, Barry Manilow
sang the commercial jingle "Get a Bucket of Chicken", which was later included on Barry Manilow Live
as part of "A Very Strange Medley."
Throughout the mid 1980s, KFC called on Will Vinton Studios to produce a series of humorous, claymation ads. These most often featured a cartoon-like chicken illustrating the poor food quality
of competing food chains, mentioning prolonged freezing and other negative aspects. TV ads also featured Foghorn Leghorn advising Henery Hawk
to visit the restaurant for better chicken.
In the 1980s, KFC was an associate sponsor for Junior Johnson
's NASCAR
Winston Cup Series cars, with such drivers as Darrell Waltrip
, Neil Bonnett
, and Terry Labonte
.
A 1982 episode of Little House on the Prairie
titled "Wave of the Future" featured a character presumed to be Col. Sanders offering Harriet Oleson a fried chicken franchise (perhaps a subliminal advertisement for KFC), but his character was credited as "Bearded Man" for legal reasons. This subplot was an anachronism as Sanders had not yet been born at the time the episode was set (the late 19th century).
In 1997, KFC briefly re-entered the NASCAR Winston Cup Series as sponsor of the No.26 Darrell Waltrip Motorsports
Chevrolet
with driver Rich Bickle
at the Brickyard 400.
By the late 1990s, the stylized likeness of Colonel Sanders as the KFC logo had been modified. KFC ads began featuring an animated version of "the Colonel" voiced by Randy Quaid
with a lively and enthusiastic attitude. He would often start out saying "The Colonel here!" and moved across the screen with a cane in hand. The Colonel was often shown dancing, singing, and knocking on the TV screen as he spoke to the viewer about the product.
The animated Colonel is uncommon today. Still using a humorous slant, the current KFC campaign revolves mostly around customers enjoying the food. It also features a modified version of Lynyrd Skynyrd
's "Sweet Home Alabama
" as the theme song
for practically all its commercials, though the restaurant actually hails from Kentucky.
In 2006, KFC claimed to have made the first logo visible from outer space
, though Readymix
has had one since 1965. KFC says "It marked the official debut of a massive global re-image campaign that will contemporize 14,000-plus KFC restaurants in over 80 countries over the next few years." The logo was built from 65,000 one-foot-square tiles, and it took six days on site to construct in early November. The logo was placed in the Mojave Desert
near Rachel, Nevada
. It is located in the northern section of Rachel, Nevada
at 37.6460°N 115.7507°W, a few miles from the eastern border of Area 51
.
Many KFC locations are co-located with one or more of Yum! Brands
restaurants, Long John Silver's
, Taco Bell
, Pizza Hut
, or A&W Restaurants
. Many of these locations behave like a single restaurant, offering a single menu with food items from both restaurants.
One of KFC's latest advertisements is a commercial advertising its "wicked crunch box meal". The commercial features a fictional black metal
band called "Hellvetica" performing live, the lead singer then swallows fire. The commercial then shows the lead singer at a KFC eating the "wicked crunch box meal" and saying "Oh man that is hot".
Commercials in the early 2000s tried to imply that the abbreviation stands for Kitchen Fresh Chicken. In 2007, the original, non-acronymic Kentucky Fried Chicken name was resurrected and began to reappear on company marketing literature and food packaging, as well as some restaurant signage.
In 2010, an advertisement was shown in Australia showing an Australian cricket
fan giving West Indies fans KFC chicken to keep them quiet. The ad sparked a debate over racism in the ad, suggesting that all black people eat fried chicken. Fried chicken was eaten by black slaves because it was cheap and easy to make. Though KFC stated that it was "misinterpreted by a segment of people in the US", the ad was later pulled from TV. However, several Australian commentators have expressed the opinion that the ad is not racist, because this is not a racial stereotype in Australia and the cricket fans in the ad are not African American, but West Indies cricket supporters (the West Indies cricket team was playing a Test cricket
series against the Australian cricket team at the time of the ad).
Also in 2010, Yum! signed a naming rights deal with the Louisville Arena Authority for Louisville's new downtown arena, which opened on October 10 of that year as the KFC Yum! Center
.
of a large destruction of the Amazon Rainforest
, because the supply of soy used for chicken food that KFC receives from Cargill has been traced back to the European KFC. Cargill has reportedly been exporting soy illegally for several years. The Greenpeace
organization researched the issue and brought it to the attention of the parent company YUM! Brands, Inc. The parent company denied the illegal operation, and said that their supply of soy is grown in parts of Brazil. Greenpeace has called on KFC to stop purchasing soy from Cargill, to avoid contributing to the destruction of the Amazon.
In May 2007, KFC (Great Britain) requested that Tan Hill Inn
, in the Yorkshire Dales
, North Yorkshire, UK refrain from using the term 'Family Feast' to describe its Christmas menu,
although this problem was quickly resolved with the pub being allowed to continue use of the term.
Since 2003, animal rights
and welfare organizations, led by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA), have been protesting KFC’s treatment of the animals used for its products. These groups claim that the recommendations of the KFC Animal Welfare Advisory Council have been ignored. Adele Douglass, a former member of the council, said in an SEC filing reported on by the Chicago Times
, that KFC "never had any meetings. They never asked any advice, and then they touted to the press that they had this animal-welfare advisory committee. I felt like I was being used."
KFC responded by saying the chickens used in its products are bought from suppliers like Perdue Farms
, Tyson Foods
, and Pilgrim's Pride
, and that these suppliers are routinely monitored for animal welfare violations. Several PETA undercover investigations and videos of these and other KFC suppliers purporting to show chickens being beaten, ripped apart, and thrown against walls contradict KFC’s claims. PETA has criticised some of the practices of chicken breeders, such as beak trimming and overcrowding, but KFC says its suppliers meets UK legal requirements. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
recommends a maximum stocking density of 34 kg—around 30 chickens—per square metre, and say that in circumstances where beak trimming needs to be carried out to prevent the birds injuring each other, only one third of the beak should be trimmed "measured from the tip towards the entrance of the nostrils". PETA states that they have held more than 12,000 demonstrations at KFC outlets since 2003 because of this alleged mistreatment of chickens by KFC suppliers.
In June 2008, KFC Canada agreed to PETA's demands for better welfare standards, including favoring suppliers who use controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK) of chickens, and other welfare standards as well as introducing a vegan sandwich at 65% of its outlets. PETA has called off its campaign against KFC Canada, but continues to demonstrate against KFC elsewhere in the world.
, Kazi Foods, was forced to close down all three KFC locations in that country, due to the dispute over increasing duties and the eventual ban on the importation of specific key ingredients used to make the chicken; the restaurants closed as, without the ingredients, the chicken will not be up to KFC corporate standards.
, Kenya
on August 2011. It is the first US-based fast food restaurant in the nation as well as in East Africa
.
Fast food restaurant
A fast food restaurant, also known as a Quick Service Restaurant or QSR within the industry itself, is a specific type of restaurant characterized both by its fast food cuisine and by minimal table service...
s based in Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands
Yum! Brands
Yum! Brands, Inc. or Yum! is a United States-based Fortune 500 corporation. Yum! operates or licenses Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and WingStreet restaurants worldwide....
since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo
PepsiCo
PepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...
as Tricon Global Restaurants Inc.
KFC primarily sells chicken
Chicken (food)
Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world, and is prepared as food in a wide variety of ways, varying by region and culture.- History :...
pieces, wraps
Wrap (food)
A wrap is a sort of sandwich made of a soft flatbread rolled around a filling. The usual flatbreads are wheat-flour tortillas, lavash, or pita; the filling usually consists of cold sliced meat, poultry, or fish accompanied by shredded lettuce, diced tomato or pico de gallo, guacamole, sauteed...
, salad
Salad
Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf...
s and sandwich
Sandwich
A sandwich is a food item, typically consisting of two or more slices of :bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of lunch food, typically taken to work or school, or...
es. While its primary focus is fried chicken
Fried chicken
Fried chicken is a dish consisting of chicken pieces usually from broiler chickens which have been floured or battered and then pan fried, deep fried, or pressure fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or crust to the exterior...
, KFC also offers a line of grilled and roasted chicken products, side dish
Side dish
A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal.-Common types:...
es and desserts. Outside the USA, KFC offers beef based products such as hamburger
Hamburger
A hamburger is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat usually placed inside a sliced bread roll...
s or kebabs, poutine, pork based products such as ribs and other regional fare.
The company was founded as Kentucky Fried Chicken by Colonel
Kentucky colonel
Kentucky colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the Governor and the Secretary of State to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation...
Harland Sanders
Colonel Sanders
Harland David "Colonel" Sanders was an American fast food businessman who founded the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain, now re-branded as KFC...
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. Newer and remodeled restaurants will adopt 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.
History
Henryville, Indiana
Henryville is a census-designated place in Clark County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,905 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Henryville is located at ....
, Sanders passed through several professions in his lifetime. Sanders first served his fried chicken in 1930 in the midst of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
at a gas station
Filling station
A filling station, also known as a fueling station, garage, gasbar , gas station , petrol bunk , petrol pump , petrol garage, petrol kiosk , petrol station "'servo"' in Australia or service station, is a facility which sells fuel and lubricants...
he owned in North Corbin, Kentucky
North Corbin, Kentucky
North Corbin is a census-designated place in Knox and Laurel counties in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The population was 1,662 at the 2000 census....
. The dining area was named Sanders Court & Café
Harland Sanders Café and Museum
The Harland Sanders Café is a historic restaurant located in North Corbin, Kentucky. Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, operated the restaurant from 1940-1956. Sanders also developed the famous KFC secret recipe at the café during the 1940s...
and was so successful that in 1935 Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon
Ruby Laffoon
Ruby Laffoon was a politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He was the state's 43rd governor, serving from 1931 to 1935. At age 17, Laffoon moved to Washington, D.C. to live with his uncle, U.S. Representative Polk Laffoon...
granted Sanders the title of honorary Kentucky Colonel
Kentucky colonel
Kentucky colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the Governor and the Secretary of State to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation...
in recognition of his contribution to the state's cuisine. The following year Sanders expanded his restaurant to 142 seats, and added a motel
Motel
A motor hotel, or motel for short, is a hotel designed for motorists, and usually has a parking area for motor vehicles...
he bought across the street. When Sanders prepared his chicken in his original restaurant in North Corbin, he prepared the chicken in an iron skillet, which took about 30 minutes to do, too long for a restaurant operation. In 1939, Sanders altered the cooking process for his fried chicken to use a pressure fryer, resulting in a greatly reduced cooking time comparable to that of deep frying
Deep frying
Deep frying is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot oil or fat. This is normally performed with a deep fryer or chip pan; industrially, a pressure fryer or vacuum fryer may be used....
. In 1940 Sanders devised what came to be known as his Original Recipe.
The Sanders Court & Café generally served travelers, often those headed to Florida, so when the route planned in the 1950s for what would become Interstate 75
Interstate 75
Interstate 75 is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. It travels from State Road 826 and State Road 924 in Hialeah, Florida to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, at the Ontario, Canada, border...
bypassed Corbin
Corbin, Kentucky
- Economy :Originally formed by L&N Railroad, rail transport was the backbone of the local economy in the first half of the twentieth century. While the railroad continues to play an important role, the decline of the rail industry in the latter half of the twentieth century, as well as the loss...
, he sold his properties and traveled the U.S. to sell his chicken to restaurant owners. The first to take him up on the offer was Pete Harman
Pete Harman
Leon Weston "Pete" Harman is best known for having struck a deal with Colonel Harland Sanders to open the first KFC franchise. Located in Salt Lake City, Utah it opened for business in August 1952....
in South Salt Lake, Utah
South Salt Lake, Utah
South Salt Lake is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States, part of the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 23,617 at the 2010 census.-History:...
; together, they opened the first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" outlet in 1952. By the early 1960s, Kentucky Fried Chicken was sold in over 600 franchised outlets in both the United States and Canada. One of the longest-lived franchisees of the older Col. Sanders' chicken concept, as opposed to the KFC chain, was the Kenny Kings chain. The company owned many Northern Ohio diner-style restaurants, the last of which closed in 2004.
Sanders sold the entire KFC franchising
Franchising
Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....
operation in 1964 for $2million USD, equal to $ today. Since that time, the chain has been sold three more times: to Heublein
Heublein
Heublein Inc. was an American producer and distributor of alcoholic beverages and food throughout the 20th century...
in 1971, to R.J. Reynolds in 1982 and most recently to PepsiCo
PepsiCo
PepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...
in 1986, which made it part of its Tricon Global Restaurants
Yum! Brands
Yum! Brands, Inc. or Yum! is a United States-based Fortune 500 corporation. Yum! operates or licenses Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and WingStreet restaurants worldwide....
division, which in turn was spun off in 1997, and has now been renamed to Yum! Brands
Yum! Brands
Yum! Brands, Inc. or Yum! is a United States-based Fortune 500 corporation. Yum! operates or licenses Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and WingStreet restaurants worldwide....
.
In 2001, KFC started tests in Austin, Texas restaurants of "Wing Works" chicken wing line sold with one of a few flavored sauces. Also, KFC hired a consultant to develop a breakfast menu.
Additionally, Colonel Sanders' nephew, Lee Cummings, took his own Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises (and a chicken recipe of his own) and converted them to his own "spin-off" restaurant chain
Chain store
Chain stores are retail outlets that share a brand and central management, and usually have standardized business methods and practices. These characteristics also apply to chain restaurants and some service-oriented chain businesses. In retail, dining and many service categories, chain businesses...
, Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken
Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken
Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken is a casual dining franchise founded in 1966 specializing in chicken, homestyle sides, and biscuits. There are currently 142 Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken locations in 14 states across America...
.
Recipe
The recipe of 11 herbs and spices used by KFC in preparation of their chicken remains a trade secretTrade secret
A trade secret is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information which is not generally known or reasonably ascertainable, by which a business can obtain an economic advantage over competitors or customers...
. Portions of the secret spice mix are made at different locations in the United States, and the only complete, handwritten copy of the recipe is kept in a vault in corporate headquarters.
On September 9, 2008, the one complete copy was temporarily moved to an undisclosed location under extremely tight security while KFC revamped the security at its headquarters. Before the move, KFC disclosed that the recipe, which includes exact amounts of each component, is written in pencil on a single sheet of notebook paper and signed by Sanders. It was locked in a filing cabinet with two separate combination locks. The cabinet also included vials of each of the 11 herbs and spices used. Only two unnamed executives had access to the recipe at any one time. One of the two executives said that no one had come close to guessing the contents of the secret recipe, and added that the actual recipe would include some surprises. On February 9, 2009, the secret recipe returned to KFC's Louisville headquarters in a more secure, computerized vault guarded by motion detector
Motion detector
A motion detector is a device for motion detection. That is, it is a device that contains a physical mechanism or electronic sensor that quantifies motion that can be either integrated with or connected to other devices that alert the user of the presence of a moving object within the field of view...
s and security cameras. Reportedly, the paper has yellowed
Foxing
Foxing is a term describing the age-related spots and browning seen on vintage paper documents such as books, postage stamps, certificates, and so forth. The name may derive from the fox-like reddish-brown color of the stains, or the rust chemical ferric oxide which may be involved...
and the handwriting is now faint.
In 1983, writer William Poundstone
William Poundstone
William Poundstone is an American author, columnist, and skeptic. He has written a number of books including the Big Secrets series and a biography of Carl Sagan...
examined the recipe in his book Big Secrets
Big Secrets
Big Secrets is a series of books written by William Poundstone, and also the title of the series' first book.-History:In each book, Poundstone seeks to explore a number of mysteries, and reveal "the uncensored truth about all sorts of stuff you are never supposed to know" .Some of the mysteries...
. He reviewed Sanders' patent application, and advertised in college newspapers for present or former employees willing to share their knowledge. From the former he deduced that Sanders had diverged from other common fried-chicken recipes by varying the amount of oil used with the amount of chicken being cooked, and starting the cooking at a higher temperature (about 400 °F) for the first minute or so and then lowering it to 250 °F for the remainder of the cooking time. Several of Poundstone's contacts also provided samples of the seasoning mix, and a food lab found that it consisted solely of sugar, flour, salt, black pepper
Black pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...
and monosodium glutamate
Monosodium glutamate
Monosodium glutamate, also known as sodium glutamate or MSG, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, one of the most abundant naturally occurring non-essential amino acids....
(MSG). He concluded that it was entirely possible that, in the years since Sanders sold the chain, later owners had begun skimping on the recipe to save costs. Following his buyout in 1964, Colonel Sanders himself expressed anger at such changes, saying:
Ron Douglas, author of the book America's Most Wanted Recipes, also claims to have figured out KFC's secret recipe.
Packaging
The famous paper bucket that KFC uses for its larger sized orders of chicken and has come to signify the company was originally created by Wendy'sWendy's
Wendy's is an international fast food chain restaurant founded by Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The company decided to move its headquarters to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. It has been owned by Triarc since 2008...
restaurants founder Dave Thomas
Dave Thomas (American businessman)
David "Dave" Thomas was an American fast-food entrepreneur and philanthropist. Thomas was the founder and chief executive officer of Wendy's, a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in hamburgers...
. Thomas was originally a franchisee of the original Kentucky Fried Chicken and operated several outlets in the Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
area. His reasoning behind using the paper packaging was that it helped keep the chicken crisp by wicking away excess moisture. Thomas was also responsible for the creation of the famous rotating bucket sign that came to be used at most KFC locations in the US.
Chicken
- KFC's specialty is fried chicken served in various forms. KFC's primary product is pressure-friedPressure fryingIn cooking, pressure frying is a variation on pressure cooking where meat and cooking oil are brought to high temperatures while pressure is held high enough to cook the food more quickly. This leaves the meat very hot and juicy. A receptacle used in pressure frying is known as a pressure...
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. Introduced in April 2009 and was adapted mid-2011 in the UK as the "Brazer".
- KFC has two lines of burgersBurgers-People:* Johannes Martinus Burgers, Dutch physicist, namesake of Burgers' equation and brother of W. G. Burgers* W. G. Burgers, Dutch crystallographer and brother of J. M...
or sandwichesSandwiches"Sandwiches" is a song by American electronic band Detroit Grand Pubahs. It reached number 29 in the Hot Dance Club Songs chart.- Track listing :...
: its "regular" chicken sandwiches/burgers and its Snackers line. The regular sandwiches/burgers are served on either a sesame seed or cornMaizeMaize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
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 cheaper items that consist of chicken strips and various toppings. These are known as "burgers" in most countries and "sandwiches" in the United States. 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 in some locations, which include a slice of cheese and a hash brown.- KFC considers its Double DownDouble Down (sandwich)The Double Down is a sandwich offered by Kentucky Fried Chicken . The Double Down contains "bacon, two different kinds of melted cheese, the Colonel’s 'secret' sauce... pinched in between two pieces of Original Recipe chicken fillets." It is also available with grilled chicken fillets instead of...
product a sandwich or burger in spite of containing no bread.
- KFC considers its Double Down
- A variety of finger foodFinger foodFinger food is food meant to be eaten directly using the hands, in contrast to food eaten with a knife and fork, chopsticks, or other utensils. In some cultures, food is almost always eaten with the hands; for example, Ethiopian cuisine is eaten by rolling various dishes up in injera bread. In the...
s, including chicken strips, wings, nuggets, and popcorn chicken, and potato wedgesPotato wedgesPotato wedges, also called jojos in some parts of the United States, are a variation of french fries. As its name suggests, they are large, often unpeeled wedges of potatoes that are either baked or fried....
, are served with various sauces. - Several pies have been made available from KFC in some locations. The Pot PiePot pieA pot pie is a type of baked savory pie with a bottom and top completely encased by flaky crusts and baked inside a pie tin to support its shape....
is a savoryUmamiUmami , popularly referred to as savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes together with sweet, sour, bitter, and salty.-Etymology:Umami is a loanword from the Japanese meaning "pleasant savory taste". This particular writing was chosen by Professor Kikunae Ikeda from umai "delicious" and mi ...
pie made with chicken, gravy and vegetables. In the second quarter of 2006, KFC introduced its variation on Shepherd's pieShepherd's pieCottage pie or shepherd's pie is a meat pie with a crust of mashed potato.The term cottage pie is known to have been in use in 1791, when the potato was being introduced as an edible crop affordable for the poor Cottage pie or shepherd's pie is a meat pie with a crust of mashed potato.The term...
called the Famous Bowl. Served in a plastic bowl, it is layered with mashed potatoes or rice, gravyGravyGravy is a sauce made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking. In North America the term can refer to a wider variety of sauces and gravy is often thicker than in Britain...
, cornMaizeMaize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, popcorn chicken, and cheese, and is served with a biscuit. The bowl had been available at KFC's special test marketTest marketA test market, in the field of business and marketing, is a geographic region or demographic group used to gauge the viability of a product or service in the mass market prior to a wide scale roll-out...
store in Louisville since the third quarter of 2005. - The KFC Twister is a wrapWrap (food)A wrap is a sort of sandwich made of a soft flatbread rolled around a filling. The usual flatbreads are wheat-flour tortillas, lavash, or pita; the filling usually consists of cold sliced meat, poultry, or fish accompanied by shredded lettuce, diced tomato or pico de gallo, guacamole, sauteed...
that consists of either chicken strips or roasted chicken, tomato, lettuce and (pepper) mayonnaise wrapped in a tortillaTortillaIn Mexico and Central America, a tortilla is a type of thin, unleavened flat bread, made from finely ground maize...
. In Europe, the Twister is sold in two varieties: 1) the Grilled Twister (chicken strips), 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), - KFC Fillers are a 9 in (22.9 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.
Other products
- In some locations, KFC may sell hamburgerHamburgerA hamburger is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat usually placed inside a sliced bread roll...
s, pork ribsPork ribsPork ribs are a cut of pork popular in North American and Asian cuisines. The ribcage of a domestic pig, meat and bones together, is cut into usable pieces, prepared by smoking, grilling, or baking – usually with a sauce, often barbecue – and then served....
or fish. In the U.S., KFC began offering the Fish Snacker sandwich during LentLentIn the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
in 2006. The Fish Snacker consists of a rectangular patty of Alaskan PollockPollockPollock is the common name used for either of the two species of marine fish in the Pollachius genus. Both P. pollachius and P. virens are commonly referred to as pollock. Other names for P...
on a small bun, and is the fifth KFC menu item in the Snacker category. - Some locations also may sell KFC 'Mashies' – balls of mashed potato cooked in original recipe batter
- Three types of salads (which can be topped with roasted or fried chicken) are available at KFC in the United States: Caesar, house, and BLT salads.
- The Boneless Banquet
- Zinger Burger – A regular sized burger which consists of a spicy chicken fillet with lettuce and mayonnaise in a burger bun. Cheese, tomato, bacon and pineapple can be added upon request in some locations. Barbecue sauce can also replace/join the mayonnaise in some locations.
- Chili Cheese Fries – By 2007, 2 former KFC/A&W RestaurantsA&W RestaurantsA&W Restaurants, Inc., is a chain of fast-food restaurants, distinguished by its draft root beer and root beer floats. A&W was arguably the first successful food franchise company, starting franchises in 1921 in California. Today it has franchise locations throughout the world, serving a typical...
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.
- Kentucky Nuggets - a chicken nugget product available at KFC from December 1984. It is still sold in New Zealand (as "Chicken Nuggets") and Australia, but has been discontinued in some other countries (e.g. Canada) since 1996.
- Sara Lee Desserts – Available in either Cookies and Cream Cheesecake or Choc Caramel Mousse in some locations.
- Krushers, available in AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
,. These are drinks containing "real bits". They include "classic krushers", "smoothie krushers" and "fruit krushers". Some outlets are now equipped with "Krushbars" to serve these drinks. In the U.K., Krushers are known as Krushems.
Side Dishes
- Other than fried chicken, many KFC restaurants serve side dishSide dishA side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal.-Common types:...
es like coleslawColeslawColeslaw, sometimes simply called slaw in some American dialects, is a salad consisting primarily of shredded raw cabbage. It may also include shredded carrots and other ingredients such as fruits and vegetables, apples, onions, green onions, peppers and various spices.-History:The term "coleslaw"...
, various potato-based items (including potato wedges [formerly known as Kentucky Fries], french fries and mashed potatoes with gravyGravyGravy is a sauce made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking. In North America the term can refer to a wider variety of sauces and gravy is often thicker than in Britain...
), biscuits, baked beansBaked beansBaked beans is a dish containing beans, sometimes baked but, despite the name, usually stewed, in a sauce. Most commercial canned baked beans are made from haricot beans, also known as navy beans – a variety of Phaseolus vulgaris – in a sauce. In Ireland and the United Kingdom, a tomato...
, macaroni and cheeseMacaroni and cheeseMacaroni and cheese, also known as "mac and cheese", "macaroni cheese" in British English, or "macaroni pie" in Caribbean English, is a casserole consisting of cooked macaroni and cheese sauce...
, macaroni saladMacaroni saladMacaroni salad is a salad, served cold made with cooked elbow macaroni pasta and usually prepared with mayonnaise. Much like potato salad or coleslaw in its use, it is often served as an accompaniment to barbecue, fried chicken, or other picnic style entrees...
, rice, steamed vegetables and corn on the cobCorn on the cobCorn on the cob is a culinary term used for a cooked ear of freshly picked maize from a cultivar of sweet corn. The ear is picked while the endosperm is in the "milk stage" so that the kernels are still tender...
.
Discontinued products
- The Colonel's Rotisserie Gold – This product was introduced in 1993 as a response to the Boston MarketBoston MarketBoston Market, known as Boston Chicken until 1995, headquartered in Golden, Colorado, is a chain of American fast casual restaurants. It is owned by private equity firm Sun Capital Partners, headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.-History:...
chain's roasted chicken products, and a healthier mindset of the general public avoiding fried food. Purportedly made from a "lost" Col. Sanders recipe, it was sold as a whole roaster or a half bird. - Tender Roast Chicken – This product was an offshoot of "The Colonel's Rotisserie Gold". Instead of whole and half birds, customers were given quarter roasted chicken pieces. For a time, customers could request chicken "original", "Extra Tasty Crispy", or "Tender Roast".
- Chicken Little sandwich – a valueValue theoryValue theory encompasses a range of approaches to understanding how, why and to what degree people should value things; whether the thing is a person, idea, object, or anything else. This investigation began in ancient philosophy, where it is called axiology or ethics. Early philosophical...
oriented sandwich that sold for US$0.39 in the U.S. during the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was a small chicken patty with mayonnaise on a small roll, similar to White Castle'sWhite Castle (restaurant)White Castle is an American regional fast food hamburger restaurant chain in the Midwestern United States and in the New York metropolitan area, and the first of its kind in the US. It is known for its small, square hamburgers. Sometimes referred to as "sliders", the burgers were priced at five...
mini chicken sandwich. - Extra Tasty Crispy (ETC) – Chicken much like the Extra Crispy served today, except ETC was prepared using chicken that had been soaking for 15 minutes in a special marinade machine. There is some speculation that the marinade may have been made with trans-fats, and KFC confesses to no longer use trans-fats in their chicken, the known ingredients were garlic and chicken stock. In the summer of 2007, KFC started marketing the chicken just as "Extra Crispy" without the marinade.
- Smokey Chipotle – Introduced in April 2008. The chicken was dipped in chipotleChipotleA chipotle , or chilpotle, which comes from the Nahuatl word chilpoktli meaning "smoked chili pepper" is a smoke-dried jalapeño that tends to be brown and shriveled. It is a chili used primarily in Mexican and Mexican-inspired cuisines, such as Mexican-American and Tex-Mex.Varieties of jalapeño...
sauce then doubled breaded and fried. It has been discontinued since August 2008.
Nutritional value
KFC has used partially hydrogenated oil in its fried foods. This oil contains relatively high levels of trans fatTrans fat
Trans fat is the common name for unsaturated fat with trans-isomer fatty acid. Because the term refers to the configuration of a double carbon-carbon bond, trans fats are sometimes monounsaturated or polyunsaturated, but never saturated....
, which increases the risk of heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
.
In the United States, the Center for Science in the Public Interest
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Center for Science in the Public Interest is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit watchdog and consumer advocacy group focusing on nutritional education and awareness.-History and funding:...
(CSPI) filed a court case against KFC with the aim of making it use other types of oils or make sure customers know about trans fat content immediately before they buy food. In October 2006, KFC said it would begin frying its chicken in trans fat-free oil (<0.5g per serving) in the United States. This would also apply to their potato wedges and other fried foods, however, the biscuits, macaroni and cheese
Macaroni and cheese
Macaroni and cheese, also known as "mac and cheese", "macaroni cheese" in British English, or "macaroni pie" in Caribbean English, is a casserole consisting of cooked macaroni and cheese sauce...
, and mashed potatoes would still contain trans fat. Trans fat-free soybean
Soybean
The soybean or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses...
oil was introduced in all KFC restaurants in the U.S. by April 30, 2007, and CSPI dropped its lawsuit.
However, outside the United States the company has continued to use other types of oil that have drawn criticism over their health effects. In Australia, KFC was reported to be using palm oil with up to 1 per cent trans-fat and 52 per cent saturated fat content as late as 2007, after restaurants in the United States had changed to trans-fat free oil.
Advertising
Despite his death in 1980, Sanders remains a key symbol of the company in its advertising and branding. Early television advertisements for KFC regularly featured Sanders licking his fingers and talking to the viewer about his secret recipe, and by the 1960s both the Colonel and the chain's striped bucket had become well-known. The bucket as product placementProduct placement
Product placement, or embedded marketing, is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, music videos, the story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the...
can be seen in the hands of both Annette Funicello and Dwayne Hickman in 1965's How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini is a 1965 beach party film from American International Pictures. The sixth entry in a seven-film series, the movie features Mickey Rooney, Annette Funicello, Dwayne Hickman, Brian Donlevy, and Beverly Adams...
, and was also featured prominently in the 1968 Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
vehicle, The Party
The Party (film)
The Party is a 1968 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, starring Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet. The film has a very loose structure, and essentially serves as a series of set pieces for Sellers's improvisational comedy talents...
. KFC itself was featured in 1980's Superman II
Superman II
Superman II is the 1980 sequel to the 1978 superhero film Superman and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Ned Beatty, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, and Jack O'Halloran. It was the only Superman film to be filmed by two directors...
. The Colonel made appearances as himself in Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
's The Big Mouth
The Big Mouth
The Big Mouth is a 1967 comedy film produced, directed, co-written by and starring Jerry Lewis released on July 12, 1967 by Columbia Pictures. It was filmed in San Diego and features Frank De Vol as an onscreen narrator.-Plot:...
(1967), Herschell Gordon Lewis
Herschell Gordon Lewis
Herschell Gordon Lewis is an American filmmaker, best known for creating the "splatter film" subgenre of horror...
' Blast-Off Girls
Blast-Off Girls
Blast-Off Girls is a 1967 American exploitation film directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis.- Plot :In Herschell Gordon Lewis's take on A Hard Day's Night meets Wild Guitar, a ruthless and greedy talent manager named Boojie Baker "discovers" then exploits unknown rock bands...
(1967) and Al Adamson
Al Adamson
Al Adamson was a prolific director of B-grade horror films throughout the 1960s and 1970s.After assisting his father, Victor Adamson, in making the 1963 movie Halfway to Hell, Adamson decided to work in the motion picture industry himself...
's Hell's Bloody Devils (1970), as well as an appearance in 1968 on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In is an American sketch comedy television program which ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to May 14, 1973. It was hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin and was broadcast over NBC...
.
Before he became a platinum-selling pop star in the 1970s, Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...
sang the commercial jingle "Get a Bucket of Chicken", which was later included on Barry Manilow Live
Barry Manilow Live
Barry Manilow Live is the fifth album by the singer-songwriter Barry Manilow. The album was released in 1977, and it scored quadruple platinum....
as part of "A Very Strange Medley."
Throughout the mid 1980s, KFC called on Will Vinton Studios to produce a series of humorous, claymation ads. These most often featured a cartoon-like chicken illustrating the poor food quality
Food quality
Food quality is the quality characteristics of food that is acceptable to consumers. This includes external factors as appearance , texture, and flavour; factors such as federal grade standards and internal .Food quality in the United States is enforced by the Food Safety Act 1990...
of competing food chains, mentioning prolonged freezing and other negative aspects. TV ads also featured Foghorn Leghorn advising Henery Hawk
Henery Hawk
Henery Hawk is a cartoon character from the American Looney Tunes series, who appeared in twelve cartoons. His first appearance was The Squawkin' Hawk, directed by Chuck Jones and produced by Leon Schlesinger. Henery's next appearance was Walky Talky Hawky which also featured Foghorn Leghorn and...
to visit the restaurant for better chicken.
In the 1980s, KFC was an associate sponsor for Junior Johnson
Junior Johnson
Robert Glenn Johnson, Jr. , better known as Junior Johnson, is a retired moonshiner in the rural South who became one of the early superstars of NASCAR in the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966...
's NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
Winston Cup Series cars, with such drivers as Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Lee Waltrip is a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion , 3-time runner-up , winner of the 1989 Daytona 500 and 5-time winner of the prestigeous Coca-Cola 600 ,...
, Neil Bonnett
Neil Bonnett
Lawrence Neil Bonnett was a NASCAR driver who compiled 18 victories and 20 poles over his 18-year career. The Alabama native currently ranks 35th in all-time NASCAR Cup victories. He appeared in the 1983 film Stroker Ace and the 1990 film Days of Thunder...
, and Terry Labonte
Terry Labonte
Terrance Lee Labonte is a semi-retired NASCAR driver who occasionally drives in the Sprint Cup Series when called upon and is a two-time Winston Cup and IROC champion. He currently drives the #32 U.S. Chrome Ford for FAS Lane Racing. Labonte was introduced to the sport through his father, who had...
.
A 1982 episode of Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie (TV series)
Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books...
titled "Wave of the Future" featured a character presumed to be Col. Sanders offering Harriet Oleson a fried chicken franchise (perhaps a subliminal advertisement for KFC), but his character was credited as "Bearded Man" for legal reasons. This subplot was an anachronism as Sanders had not yet been born at the time the episode was set (the late 19th century).
In 1997, KFC briefly re-entered the NASCAR Winston Cup Series as sponsor of the No.26 Darrell Waltrip Motorsports
Darrell Waltrip Motorsports
Darrell Waltrip Motorsports was a NASCAR team owned by three-time Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip. It was formed in 1991 when Waltrip resigned from Hendrick Motorsports to start his own team, and was originally named DarWal, Inc....
Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
with driver Rich Bickle
Rich Bickle
Richard "Rich" Bickle, Jr. is a journeyman NASCAR driver. Bickle, who has never completed a full season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has a long history in short track racing.-Early career:...
at the Brickyard 400.
Randy Quaid
Randall Rudy "Randy" Quaid is an American actor perhaps best known for his role as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon's Vacation movies, as well as his numerous supporting roles in films, including his Oscar nominated performance in The Last Detail, Independence Day, Kingpin and Brokeback Mountain...
with a lively and enthusiastic attitude. He would often start out saying "The Colonel here!" and moved across the screen with a cane in hand. The Colonel was often shown dancing, singing, and knocking on the TV screen as he spoke to the viewer about the product.
The animated Colonel is uncommon today. Still using a humorous slant, the current KFC campaign revolves mostly around customers enjoying the food. It also features a modified version of Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...
's "Sweet Home Alabama
Sweet Home Alabama (song)
"Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd that first appeared in 1974 on their second album, Second Helping.It reached #8 on the US charts in 1974, and was the band's second hit single.-Creation and recording:...
" as the theme song
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
for practically all its commercials, though the restaurant actually hails from Kentucky.
In 2006, KFC claimed to have made the first logo visible from outer space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
, though Readymix
Rinker Group
The Rinker Group was an Australian-headquartered multinational building products company. Prior to its acquisition by Cemex, it was listed on both the Australian Securities Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. Rinker operates three major divisions:...
has had one since 1965. KFC says "It marked the official debut of a massive global re-image campaign that will contemporize 14,000-plus KFC restaurants in over 80 countries over the next few years." The logo was built from 65,000 one-foot-square tiles, and it took six days on site to construct in early November. The logo was placed in the Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...
near Rachel, Nevada
Rachel, Nevada
Rachel is an unincorporated portion of Lincoln County, Nevada. As the closest habitation to the Nellis Air Force Range and Area 51, Rachel enjoys a modest celebrity, particularly among aviation enthusiasts and UFO hunters....
. It is located in the northern section of Rachel, Nevada
Rachel, Nevada
Rachel is an unincorporated portion of Lincoln County, Nevada. As the closest habitation to the Nellis Air Force Range and Area 51, Rachel enjoys a modest celebrity, particularly among aviation enthusiasts and UFO hunters....
at 37.6460°N 115.7507°W, a few miles from the eastern border of Area 51
Area 51
Area 51 is a military base, and a remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base. It is located in the southern portion of Nevada in the western United States, 83 miles north-northwest of downtown Las Vegas. Situated at its center, on the southern shore of Groom Lake, is a large military airfield...
.
Many KFC locations are co-located with one or more of Yum! Brands
Yum! Brands
Yum! Brands, Inc. or Yum! is a United States-based Fortune 500 corporation. Yum! operates or licenses Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and WingStreet restaurants worldwide....
restaurants, Long John Silver's
Long John Silver's
Long John Silver's, Inc. is a United States-based fast-food restaurant that specializes in seafood. The name and concept were inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's book Treasure Island. Formerly a division of Yum! Brands, Inc., the company was divested to a group of franchisees in 2011.-History:The...
, Taco Bell
Taco Bell
Taco Bell is an American chain of fast-food restaurants based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., which serves American-adapted Mexican food. Taco Bell serves tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, other specialty items, and a variety of "Value Menu" items...
, Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise that offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes including pasta, buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread....
, or A&W Restaurants
A&W Restaurants
A&W Restaurants, Inc., is a chain of fast-food restaurants, distinguished by its draft root beer and root beer floats. A&W was arguably the first successful food franchise company, starting franchises in 1921 in California. Today it has franchise locations throughout the world, serving a typical...
. Many of these locations behave like a single restaurant, offering a single menu with food items from both restaurants.
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
band called "Hellvetica" performing live, the lead singer then swallows fire. The commercial then shows the lead singer at a KFC eating the "wicked crunch box meal" and saying "Oh man that is hot".
Commercials in the early 2000s tried to imply that the abbreviation stands for Kitchen Fresh Chicken. In 2007, the original, non-acronymic Kentucky Fried Chicken name was resurrected and began to reappear on company marketing literature and food packaging, as well as some restaurant signage.
In 2010, an advertisement was shown in Australia showing an Australian cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
fan giving West Indies fans KFC chicken to keep them quiet. The ad sparked a debate over racism in the ad, suggesting that all black people eat fried chicken. Fried chicken was eaten by black slaves because it was cheap and easy to make. Though KFC stated that it was "misinterpreted by a segment of people in the US", the ad was later pulled from TV. However, several Australian commentators have expressed the opinion that the ad is not racist, because this is not a racial stereotype in Australia and the cricket fans in the ad are not African American, but West Indies cricket supporters (the West Indies cricket team was playing a Test cricket
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
series against the Australian cricket team at the time of the ad).
Also in 2010, Yum! signed a naming rights deal with the Louisville Arena Authority for Louisville's new downtown arena, which opened on October 10 of that year as the KFC Yum! Center
KFC Yum! Center
The KFC Yum! Center is a US $238 million, 22,000-seat basketball and multipurpose arena that opened on October 10, 2010, on the Ohio River waterfront in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, on Main Street between Second and Third Streets. The project is part of a $450 million project that includes...
.
Environmental concerns
KFC in the US has been accused by GreenpeaceGreenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
of a large destruction of the Amazon Rainforest
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
, because the supply of soy used for chicken food that KFC receives from Cargill has been traced back to the European KFC. Cargill has reportedly been exporting soy illegally for several years. The Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
organization researched the issue and brought it to the attention of the parent company YUM! Brands, Inc. The parent company denied the illegal operation, and said that their supply of soy is grown in parts of Brazil. Greenpeace has called on KFC to stop purchasing soy from Cargill, to avoid contributing to the destruction of the Amazon.
Trademark disputes
In 1971, Sanders sued Heublein Inc., KFC's parent company at the time, over the alleged misuse of his image in promoting products he had not helped develop. In 1975, Heublein Inc. unsuccessfully sued Sanders for libel after he publicly referred to their gravy as "sludge" with a "wallpaper taste".In May 2007, KFC (Great Britain) requested that Tan Hill Inn
Tan Hill, Yorkshire
Tan Hill is a high point on the Pennine Way in North Yorkshire, England north of the village of Keld, near the borders with County Durham and Cumbria and close to the northern boundary of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.-Tan Hill Inn:...
, in the Yorkshire Dales
Yorkshire Dales
The Yorkshire Dales is the name given to an upland area in Northern England.The area lies within the historic county boundaries of Yorkshire, though it spans the ceremonial counties of North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Cumbria...
, North Yorkshire, UK refrain from using the term 'Family Feast' to describe its Christmas menu,
although this problem was quickly resolved with the pub being allowed to continue use of the term.
Animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
and welfare organizations, led by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
(PETA), have been protesting KFC’s treatment of the animals used for its products. These groups claim that the recommendations of the KFC Animal Welfare Advisory Council have been ignored. Adele Douglass, a former member of the council, said in an SEC filing reported on by the Chicago Times
Chicago Times
The Chicago Times was a newspaper in Chicago from 1854 to 1895 when it merged with the Chicago Herald.The Times was founded in 1854, by James W. Sheahan, with the backing of Stephen Douglas, and was identified as a pro-slavery newspaper. In 1861, after the paper was purchased by Wilbur F...
, that KFC "never had any meetings. They never asked any advice, and then they touted to the press that they had this animal-welfare advisory committee. I felt like I was being used."
KFC responded by saying the chickens used in its products are bought from suppliers like Perdue Farms
Perdue Farms
Perdue Farms is a major chicken processing company based in Salisbury, Maryland, United States with annual sales in excess of $4.6B.-Origin and war era:...
, Tyson Foods
Tyson Foods
Tyson Foods, Inc. is a multinational corporation based in Springdale, Arkansas, that operates in the food industry. The company is the world's second largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork only behind Brazilian JBS S.A., and annually exports the largest percentage of beef out of...
, and Pilgrim's Pride
Pilgrim's Pride
Pilgrim's Corp., previously Pilgrim's Pride , is a former U.S.-owned company with its U.S. headquarters relocated to Greeley, Colorado. As a subsidiary of the Brazilian food giant, JBS, it is the largest chicken producer in the United States and Puerto Rico and the second-largest chicken producer...
, and that these suppliers are routinely monitored for animal welfare violations. Several PETA undercover investigations and videos of these and other KFC suppliers purporting to show chickens being beaten, ripped apart, and thrown against walls contradict KFC’s claims. PETA has criticised some of the practices of chicken breeders, such as beak trimming and overcrowding, but KFC says its suppliers meets UK legal requirements. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom...
recommends a maximum stocking density of 34 kg—around 30 chickens—per square metre, and say that in circumstances where beak trimming needs to be carried out to prevent the birds injuring each other, only one third of the beak should be trimmed "measured from the tip towards the entrance of the nostrils". PETA states that they have held more than 12,000 demonstrations at KFC outlets since 2003 because of this alleged mistreatment of chickens by KFC suppliers.
In June 2008, KFC Canada agreed to PETA's demands for better welfare standards, including favoring suppliers who use controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK) of chickens, and other welfare standards as well as introducing a vegan sandwich at 65% of its outlets. PETA has called off its campaign against KFC Canada, but continues to demonstrate against KFC elsewhere in the world.
Dispute over ingredients
In Summer 2011, a KFC franchisee serving FijiFiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, Kazi Foods, was forced to close down all three KFC locations in that country, due to the dispute over increasing duties and the eventual ban on the importation of specific key ingredients used to make the chicken; the restaurants closed as, without the ingredients, the chicken will not be up to KFC corporate standards.
International operations
According to the corporate website, KFC is present in 110 countries and territories around the world. It has in excess of 5,200 outlets in the United States and more than 15,000 units in other parts of the world. An outlet opened in NairobiNairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
on August 2011. It is the first US-based fast food restaurant in the nation as well as in East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
.