Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC has been around
since 1952 and has become an American institution. From small towns to big cities, KFC now operates
20,000 restaurants globally. Not bad for a Colonel who never really was
a colonel. So let’s get down to the herbs and spices
and check out the top 10 untold truths of KFC. Now, be forewarned, when it comes to Kentucky
Fried Chicken, one or two of these untold truths should have, in retrospect, maybe remained
untold. KFC is an acronym for nothing
You’d think that “KFC” simply stands for Kentucky Fried Chicken, and that’s that,
right? Well you’d be wrong. A savvy marketing division decided to shorten
it for two basic business reasons: to increase revenue and lower expenses. It may seem like a stupid detail but feeling
that the word “fried” in the company name was deterring health conscious people right
as everyone was hopping on the health-conscious bandwagon, they decided it had to go. Moreover, in 1990 the state of Kentucky trademarked
its name. Yeah, not an accident. This in essence now meant that Kentucky Fried
Chicken would need to pay a licensing fee every time they used the name “Kentucky”
in any company branding. With about 5,000 restaurants in operation
by then and with plans to open thousands more across the globe, that was going to be a few
boatloads of money the company was not willing to pay. They also had already figured that in this
era of short-cuts we were already calling them “KFC” anyways, so why not just make
it official? Today, the name “Kentucky Fried Chicken”
has been completely phased out of all company branding. Before we get to the really unsavoury stuff,
hit that subscribe button and ring that bell to join our notification squad. KFC is Chicken with a cause! There’s an abundance of easily accessible
scientific data that directly links fried foods and obesity to certain cancers. A 2003 study released by the Journal of the
National Cancer Institute showed that obesity was also the culprit directly linked to breast
cancer, especially in postmenopausal women. So it would seem odd that a company whose
near entire menu is deep fried would champion any cause for cancer awareness. Well, by April 2010 KFC’s corporate strategy,
publicly announced an initiative called “Buckets for the Cure” whose mission it was to “raise
the largest single donation in history” towards the Komen Organization, a foundation
whose aim it is to end breast cancer. From April to the end of May 2010 the campaign
would donate 50 cents from every single newly branded pink fried chicken bucket sold towards
the cause. The family-sized buckets had cancer survivors
and victims’ names printed on them. Moreover, to promote the partnership - make
no mistake, this was a mutually beneficial partnership for both KFC and Komen — the
KFC website was made bright pink for the duration of the initiative and contained inspirational
survivor stories and cancer facts and information. Although the campaign itself did more good
than harm, many critics accused both companies of a “pinkwashing” campaign; a blatant
act of self-serving commercialism claiming cancer awareness, but actually promoting the
very things which have been proven to increase the chances of getting cancer. This would be like if Phillip Morris teamed
up with the Lung Cancer Foundation. Barbara Brenner the executive director of
Breast Cancer Action said, “This [donation] will keep them in business for years. They talk about a cure, but this partnership
will create more breast cancer. And Komen knows this." Whatever perspective you choose to side with,
the end result is that the initiative did raise $4.2 million dollars towards a cure
for breast cancer and was indeed the largest lump-sum donation by any entity in Komen's
history. Japanese Christmas at KFC
Turkeys in Japan are generally in a chipper mood come Christmas time. That’s because they worry much less about
being gobble-gobble-gobbled up in Japan. That’s right, instead the turkeys are giggle-giggle-giggling
at their good fortunes as their KFC cousins are the traditional Christmas dinner of choice
for millions of Japanese families. Takeshi Okawara, the manager of the first
KFC in the country came up with an idea for a Christmas promotion called “Party in a
Bucket” for his restaurant in 1970. It did so well that in 1974 headquarters decided
to go national with it. Some clever marketing twists later, a new
slogan, which literally translates to “Kentucky for Christmas”, and a new tradition was
born. The phrase even sounds catchy in English! Harvard-educated Okawara, later climbed the
corporate ladder and served as president and CEO of Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan from 1984
to 2002. It’s largely due to him that today in Japan
20% of KFC’s annual sales come in December. In fact that finger-lickin' good chicken is
so popular that you need to pre-order it weeks in advance or risk waiting in hours-long lineups
to maybe be told there was none left. During that month alone it is estimated that
3.6 million families treat themselves to KFC and many franchises boast daily sales that
are tenfold their normal take. That’s pretty impressive considering about
only 1% of Japan’s population is Christian and Christmas is not even a recognized holiday
there. The Secret KFC Recipe is not so secret anymore
I always assumed the secret recipe was just: add a whole bunch of salt. Since no one will absolutely, unequivocally,
undisputedly confirm if the leaked recipe is truly the secret, I’m sticking to my
guns on this one. But if you’re a stickler for facts then
continue on. In August of 2016 Joe Ledington, Colonel Sanders’
nephew, claimed he found a scrapbook belonging to his late aunt Claudia (the colonel’s
second wife; more on her later). Jotted on its yellowed pages were what appeared
to be the secret 11 herbs and spices which made up one of the most heavily guarded secrets
in the culinary industry—the original Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe. When the Chicago Tribune got hold of it, they
decided to go all out and put it to the test. Actually, several experiments were conducted
as it would seem that to nail the recipe, every little detail from batter mixture, flour
content, cooking times and oil temperature all affected the overall flavor of the chicken—and
none of these variables were anywhere to be found on the withered pages of the scrapbook. It became a major event as their in-house
recipe tester Lisa Schumacher made several batches in the Tribune test kitchen. They invited a handful of food critics and
Food & Dining editors and reporters to compare the batches to the original. After several failed attempts, a final batch
was dipped in a buttermilk batter and coated only once, cooked at 350°F. Many in the room
agreed this batch was in fact better than the Colonel’s. A reporter in the room noticed a container
of the MSG food enhancer, Accent. He decided to sprinkle some directly on the
fried chicken and low and behold, all the tasters agreed that did the trick. The final batch was indistinguishable from
the Original Recipe. Only one problem though, Accent was not part
of the secret blend and a spokesperson for KFC confirmed this. Reba McEntire is the first female Colonel
Sanders Marketing ploy or a simple salute to girl
power? A bit of both? Here’s the thing, Fast food chains are constantly
adapting to the market. They have teams of researchers tab up key
analytics to see who is eating their food, and more importantly who’s not. So when the “numbers guys” hand over their
data to a fast-food chain’s marketing division which show the numbers are dropping because
people are eating healthier, the company will do things like add salads, or grilled chicken
to their menu. If the data shows that younger consumers are
eating elsewhere because competitors offer Wi-Fi, well, guess what? Wi-Fi it is! Point being, marketing campaigns aim to tap
those weaker market segments, and although I am not holding KFC’s marketing analytics
I can tell you that they undoubtedly had some of the information I found. Studies such as the one conducted by GrubHub
showed that men tend to eat more of the unhealthier food choices while women tended to lean towards
healthier ones. Here’s the kicker though; an in-depth examination
of pick-up and delivery orders from GrubHub's network of more than 30,000 restaurants in
over 700 U.S. cities revealed that women are 30% more likely to order food from work than
men. Moreover women spend on average 3% more than
men on those orders. That data must have driven the suits at KFC
a tad nuts. They added healthier food yet women still
weren’t flocking over! Enter Reba McEntire. Her role, appearing in several commercials
as the Colonel himself and becoming the spokesperson for the brand, was hailed to be one of the
best things KFC has done since-- well since, fried chicken. One of America’s most beloved country singing
celebrities and with a huge female following, she was the perfect fit. She jumped at the chance and the ensuing commercials
are brilliant, poke fun at the brand, at the Colonel and even at her. Between this ad and their new healthier menu
options, the brand finally succeeded in getting the attention of its underdeveloped female
market-segment. Now whether this attention will convert itself
into dollars remains to be seen. As a brand ambassador, Colonel Sanders hated
his chicken Harland Sanders sold his chain in 1964 for
$2 million (nearly $16 million today) to a group of investors led by John Y. Brown, Jr. and Jack C. Massey. He retained control of his Canadian operations
and later even moved to Mississauga Ontario to oversee the Canadian division. While in the US however, he became a salaried
brand ambassador for the franchise giant. One problem though; as an ambassador you need
to be behind the product and that’s very hard to do when you’re quoted saying “[this]
is the worst fried chicken I've ever seen." He was also not so fond of the group’s gravy,
calling it "nothing more than wallpaper paste.” Sanders felt the quality had decreased significantly
and even accused the new ownership of using inferior quality ingredients. Colonel Sanders cheated on his first wife
Remember Claudia Sanders? Sometimes it takes a few tries at love to
get things right. She did become the colonel’s wife, but not
before being his mistress for several years prior to that. Claudia Sanders (née Price) met Sanders in
the 1930’s where she worked for him as a waitress in his first restaurant. She was also hired to help his first wife
Josephine King. Ouch! Of their affair, Sanders’ daughter (from
his first marriage) Margaret later wrote about how her father had a more robust libido than
her mother was able to keep up with, so the colonel started to look elsewhere - classy. Sanders and Price eventually married in 1949
and remained together until his death in 1980. Together they built the empire that became
Kentucky Fried Chicken. When Sanders sold his shares the two went
on to open up the Claudia Sanders Dinner House in Shelbyville, Kentucky in 1959. It is still in operation today. KFC gravy: You may want to just use Ketchup
You didn’t think we’d get this far without talking about some of the odious stuff did
you? The gravy; that wonderfully addictive saucy
goodness served up with every order of KFC fried chicken. Main ingredients? Fried “chicken crackle”. What’s that you say? Basically it’s the bits of fried left-overs
and whatever else that falls into the Winston CollectraMatic’s “collection zone”. This machine basically collects all the chicken
scraps: the cartilage, fat and crusty left-overs (“crackle” just sounds better) that land
in the contraption’s bottom tray. A special investigation later uncovered that
in many cases the retrieved morsels were 5 days old. An undisclosed powder and water are added
to the crackle and whisked until thickened, then cooked in a microwave and finally filtered
through a very fine sieve (to get any left-over crackle out) and poured into tubs. Pass the Ketchup please! KFC or double Big Macs? Now for those that delight in these wonderful
pleasures regularly or for the rest of us that simply need a decadent cheat-day every
now and then, get your bibs ready, you’re gonna love this! The KFC Double Down sandwich uses two slabs
of deep-fried chicken as buns. The “buns” hold together a generously
packed amount of bacon, cheese and a “special sauce” (another secret, I guess). Oh and KFC makes no qualms about it; this
is not for the health-conscious eater. This is the stuff burly man-dreams are made
of. The Double Down sandwich boasts 30g of fat
and 540 calories. Making eating one of these bad boys the equivalent
of eating two-and-a-half Big Macs. It also has nearly three-and-a-half times
the sodium as the McDonald’s signature sandwich. The Colonel shot a man over a signage dispute
The Colonel served briefly in the army as a wagoner from 1906 to 1907, but he was never
a military colonel. His rank of “Kentucky Colonel” was honorary
and one of more than 5000 titles reserved specifically for the affluent. It was appointed to him by Governor Ruby Laffoon
in 1935. So no, the Colonel didn’t shoot a man in
battle. Sanders was notoriously ill-tempered. As a young man he lost several jobs due to
fist fights with co-workers as well as insubordination. Oh and his creative use of vulgarity was well
documented among KFC executives. The “force and variety of his swearing"
was even mentioned in a New Yorker magazine article. In 1930, Sanders was involved in a heated
and long-running dispute with neighboring shop owner, Matt Stewert in North Corbin,
Kentucky. Sanders was determined at success and realizing
this was a turning point in his life, he would let nothing stand in his way. The culmination of something that started
as a ridiculous, almost boyish schoolyard scrap (each man would systematically paint
over the other’s signs to attract drivers to their respective shops) ended in a deadly
gun battle. Sanders and Stewert fired on one another and
finally Stewert ended up killing Sanders’ manager. Stewart was sentenced to 18 years for murder
but all charges against Sanders were dismissed in court. Hit that subscribe button, ring that notification
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out - all you have to do is click! But you’ll have to put that chicken down
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