Hindi NewsDb originalThe Same ‘smiling Face’ Is Still Its Identity, Even The CEO Does Not Know Its Recipe
4 hours agoAuthor: Atish Kumar
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Famous American writer Stephen King had once put an idea in front of the world ‘A product may be born in a factory but its brand is made by its customer. Other companies can copy your product but not the brand. KFC is one such brand. Which is one of the largest restaurant chains in the world. Whose fried and non-fried chicken product and founder’s story is taught as a case study in many business schools. KFC has changed many owners since its inception. But its taste remains the choice of customers even today. Currently, KFC is in news due to its replacement brand Rostix opening in Russia. Significantly, due to the Ukraine war, KFC is out of Russia.
KFC success story in mega empire today…
Colonel Sanders has been the only face of KFC for years
You must have seen a smiling old face from KFC’s bucket to its stores. He’s a smiling face – Colonel Sanders. Which has been the identity of this brand for years. Born in 1890 in the Indiana province of America, Sanders spent his childhood in poverty. Sanders learned to cook at the age of 7. After the death of his father, he took care of the house and did different things. Then at the age of 40 he bought a gas station in the province of Kentucky. Here they started selling chicken by keeping chairs and tables. People liked the taste so it was converted into a restaurant. In 1939, Sanders finally figured out the right way to fry chicken. He prepared a mixture of 11 herbs and spices and then the secret recipe of fried chicken was ready. One of his friends, Peter Herman, named this chicken as Kentucky Fried Chicken and since then the name of the company has been – KFC.
The parent company of Pizza Hut and KFC
Since its inception, KFC has passed through several hands and each time its valuation has increased. First of all, founder Colonel Sanders sold it in 1964 for $ 2 million to two people – John Brown and Jack Macy. However, he signed a contract that provided Sanders with a lifetime salary, as well as quality control of KFC and the trademark would remain in his name. By 1970, KFC had three thousand outlets in 48 countries. In 1971, Brown sold the company to Heublein, a food and drink company. Sanders died in 1980. In 1982, Heublein was bought by RJ Reynolds, a tobacco company. Then in 1986, Reynolds sold it to PepsiCo for $850 million. In 1997, PepsiCo formed a company named Yum to enter the restaurant business and Yum Brands became the parent company of KFC. Which is currently also the parent company of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.
KFC’s recipe still remains a secret…
KFC has been serving its World Famous Fried Chicken since 1930. Colonel Sanders prepared its recipe by mixing 11 spices and herbs. He wrote this recipe on a page with his own hand and then got a photocopy of it. This recipe is still a secret and is locked in the KFC headquarters. It is so secure that even its CEO cannot know it. Even the nutritional guide of KFC doesn’t mention anything about this recipe.
KFC’s earning from franchisee model
Initially, to increase the business, Sanders used to sell chicken from street to street. And used to request people to take the franchise. If different reports are to be believed, he had to hear ‘no’ 1009 times. After this he got his first ‘yes’ in 1952 and gave his first franchise. Today KFC is a second company ‘Yum! Brands’. Opening a restaurant involves huge investment and cost, so KFC works on the popular model of Franchise. Means through a license, it allows its logo, name, way of working and selling the product. In return, it takes money from the franchisee. KFC only owns 70 restaurant buildings. It has 55,000 stores worldwide. Of this, 85 percent are outside the US and 99 percent work on the franchise model. KFC and Pizza Hut are owned by Devyani International Limited in India. The first KFC restaurant opened here in 1995. Devyani Group is the largest franchise partner of KFC in India.
Interesting: KFC Day on Christmas in Japan..
As Christmas approaches in Japan, lines form outside KFC. December 24 and 25 are the busiest days of the year for KFC in Japan. Here people buy buckets of KFC on Christmas day. For this every year booking is done several weeks in advance. There is tremendous marketing behind this success. In the 1970s, KFC came to Japan and launched its Christmas campaign in 1974. It also sold a bucket of KFC’s famous fried chicken and a bottle of liquor. Its tagline was kept – Kentucky for Christmas (KFC). The campaign proved to be a hit and became a tradition across Japan that continues to this day.
KFC is engaged in making restaurants smart in India
KFC’s innovative restaurant in Pune
In November 2022, Moksh Chopra, General Manager of KFC India, announced the launch of KFC Smart restaurants in major cities of the country. In KFC Smart restaurants, kiosks have been installed instead of traditional counters for ordering. There are many payment options. Like- Paytm and QR code. Apart from this, the KFC restaurant in Perambur, Chennai has been made like a railway coach. At the same time, an L-shaped digital wall of English has been made in a restaurant in a mall in Gurugram. The Brigade Road store in Bangalore is also special. Specially designed in red, black and white, these restaurants offer an experience associated with its founder, Chef Colonel Sanders.
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