KFC has more than 11,000 restaurants in more than 80 countries, and every day serves 8 million customers around the world. KFC's menu includes Original Recipe Chicken - made with the same great taste Colonel Harland Sanders created more than half a century ago. Customers around the globe also enjoy more than 300 products - from Chunky Chicken Pot Pie in the United States to a Salmon Sandwich in Japan. KFC (GB) Ltd is 100% owned by YUM!
KFC is part of Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, is the world's largest restaurant company in terms of system restaurants, with more than 37,000 restaurants in over 110 countries and territories and more than 1 million associates. Yum! is ranked #216 on the Fortune 500 List, with nearly $11 billion in revenue in 2009. Four of our restaurant brands – KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Long John Silver's – are the global leaders of the chicken, pizza, Mexican-style food and quick-service seafood categories.
The Yum! System includes three operating segments: U.S., International (Yum! Restaurants International) and China Division (includes mainland China, Thailand and KFC Taiwan). Outside the United States in 2009, the Yum! System opened more than four new restaurants each day of the year, making it a leader in international retail development.
The Kentucky Fried Chicken concept was introduced to Britain in 1965 when the first store opened in Preston. Since then KFC (GB) has expanded its UK & Ireland restaurant network to its current level of over 800 locations, some company operated and some franchised. The achievement of excellent restaurant standards has resulted in the British operation acting as a training base for many of the new KFC restaurants operating throughout Europe. In 2009, KFC (GB) was awarded 2nd place in Britain's Top Employers and was in the top 50 of Britain's Great Places to Work.
The Kentucky Fried Chicken concept was introduced to Britain in 1965 when the first store opened in Preston. Many more followed and, in 1986, following the worldwide acquisition of KFC by PepsiCo, it was announced that the British operation, KFC GB Ltd had become a joint venture – a company owned by Trust house Forte and PepsiCo.
In January 1997, PepsiCo Inc. announced the spin-off of its quick service restaurants into an independent restaurant company. Tricon Global Restaurants and Tricon Restaurants International were founded and KFC became part of the Tricon group, which changed its name in 2002 to YUM! Brands Inc. the world's largest restaurant group with restaurants in over 110 countries. Combined with Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, A&W; and Long John Silver's there are over 37,000 restaurants worldwide.
There are over 800 KFC restaurants in the UK and Ireland (and growing). The KFC business employs over 8,000 people in the UK with the restaurant ownership split 40% equity and 60% franchised. System sales were over $1 billion in the UK and Ireland in 2009, having more than doubled in the past 5 years. We serve over 100 million meals per year.
Our acquisition strategy of opening prime Drive Thru and restaurant units is one of the key drivers of this growth.
In the mid 1930s, Colonel Harland Sanders bought a motel and café in Corbin, Kentucky. Despite having tried his hand at several kinds of work – from railroading to operating a steam-powered ferryboat - Colonel Sanders loved to cook and was always experimenting with various combinations of seasonings.
So even though there was nothing new about fried chicken, the Colonel found a way to combine 11 herbs and spices with flour to create a finger lickin' good coating.
The Colonel's business and reputation both flourished at a time when most businesses were struggling, but he was forced to sell his burgeoning restaurant when a new Interstate Highway was built through his property. So, at the age of 66, Colonel Sanders found himself travelling the country with his special seasonings, his pressure-cooker and a new plan: franchises.
The Colonel visited small, independent restaurants throughout the US to teach them not only how to cook Kentucky Fried Chicken, but also his values: despite taking just a five-cent royalty on every chicken sold, the Colonel would go into dining rooms and do what he called “Coloneling†– making sure that the customers were happy. With most of his deals sealed with only a handshake, there were 838 Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises across the United States by 1964.
The Colonel was now in his 70s and Kentucky Fried Chicken had grown larger than he could realistically handle, so he sold the operation to businessmen John Y Brown Jnr and Jack Massey for $2 million. But there were strict conditions: Colonel Sanders became Quality Controller and his image stayed on as the company trademark.
Colonel Harland D Sanders was 90 years old when he died in December 1980. Although he is no longer with us, his philosophies and values of hard work and excellent customer service are, and will always be a part of KFC.
- KFC were the first US quick-service restaurant to come to the UK.
- There are currently over 800 KFC outlets in the UK and Ireland, with many new openings planned every year.
- KFC's original funding was the Colonel's $105 Social Security cheque - the rest is history!
- Colonel Sanders' first meals were served to hungry travellers visiting his service station in Corbin, Kentucky in 1930. He didn't have a restaurant, but served meals at his own dining table in the living quarters of the Corbin service station.
- The secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices was first developed in 1939. The same recipe is still used across the world today.
- It really is a secret recipe, locked away in a vault in Louisville, Kentucky. Only a handful of people know the multi-million dollar recipe and they have signed strict confidentiality contracts. Not even the spice companies that mix the secret blend of 11 herbs & spices know the complete recipe.
- Each year KFC uses some 202 million pounds of breading flour in its famous coating. If all this flour was loaded into 25 pound bags it would take 3,667 articulated lorries to transport it all at once!
