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He made it BIG, despite 1009 rejections!

Kentucky Fried Chicken. KFC, as we all know it. It's a global business, one of the world's best known food brands, operating out of 18,875 KFC outlets in 118 countries across the world, of which over 400 are in India. That's BIG, isn't it? But that's not why this story features in Think BIG. Its what went into creating KFC, which is what makes this story special, which is what makes it relevant for any entrepreneur - whether in the food business or in financial services.

Harland Sanders was born in 1890, and had quite a rough childhood after the death of his father when he was 6 and his mother's decision to re-marry when he was 12. He had to take care of his younger siblings, including cooking for them. He became quite a good cook before he was 10.

Sanders dropped out of school in grade 7, and spent the next several years trying his hand at various trades - from selling tyres to selling insurance to operating ferry boats. His passion however remained cooking. In 1930, when he was 40, he bought out a gas service station in Kentucky and started serving customers who came in to fill gas his signature dishes. His service station soon became known for the food, which prompted him to close down the gas station and convert it to a full-fledged restaurant.

His signature dish was - no prizes for guessing - fried chicken. He worked endlessly on his recipe, perfecting a blend of 11 spices and herbs - which continues to be the "secret" recipe for KFC's fried chicken even today. In 1939, during one of his many experiments at improving his fried chicken, he chanced upon a new invention of the time - a pressure cooker - which gave him the consistency when cooking larger volumes that he was yearning for but was unable to perfect.

His restaurant did good business through the 1940s and into the early 1950s. Then disaster struck. A new interstate highway was built, which bypassed his restaurant's location. No traffic, no customers. In 1956, he sold the restaurant at a loss. He was suddenly penniless, and had as a consolation, only his social security check of $105. He was then 66 years old.

Retire at 66? No way!

You would expect a 66 year old whose business has just packed up, to go quietly into retirement. But Sanders was not a "normal" 66 year old. He knew he had a winning recipe in his fried chicken, he just didn't have the right delivery mechanism in place. He had placed his bets on one restaurant, which worked for a while, but then fell by the wayside when it became a victim of change. That did not mean that he was a failure or his fried chicken was a failure. It meant that he had to reinvent the way he reached his fried chicken to consumers.

He started aggressively pitching for franchising his fried chicken. At 66, he hit the road, equipping his car with flour and his special blend of 11 herbs and spices. He went knocking on the doors of every restaurant in the neighbourhood and beyond. He would go to a restaurant, meet the owner, offer to cook his fried chicken there and then, and if the owner liked it, he offered a deal where for every piece of fried chicken the restaurant sold, they would give him 4 cents as royalty. The chicken was good, but enthusiasm in such a franchising arrangement was weak. As the story goes, Sanders faced rejection 1009 times before he got his first yes!

High conviction, in the face of a thousand rejections!

Imagine a 66 year old, whose business had packed up, being rejected over a 1000 times on his franchising idea! He didn't give up and finally got a yes in his 1010th attempt! Over the next few years, he replicated the same franchising idea across several restaurants: 4 cents royalty for every piece of fried chicken sold. And, he kept his recipe secret, ensuring that each restaurant was delivered packets of blended herbs and spices, so that they didn't know what went into making the chicken "finger lickin' good".

By 1964, Sanders had over 600 restaurants across US and Canada selling the now famous KFC, and was receiving franchise requests from all over the country. He was by then 74. He turned his passion into a profession at 40, did reasonably well till he was into his 60s, and then instead of retiring quietly when his business became a victim of change, he changed gears, revised his strategy, maintained his conviction in his product despite numerous rejections, and eventually became hugely successful, with the model that he refused to give up on.

By the time he was 75 in 1965, he understood that age was no longer by his side, though the spirit was. He sold out his franchising rights for $ 2 million plus a lifelong annual pension, retained majority stake in the Canadian franchises and remained the "face" of KFC and its brand ambassador till his death. Until his death in 1980 at the ripe old age of 90, Sanders would zip across the American continent clocking in 250,000 miles a year, visiting KFC stores, interacting with consumers and the media, and zealously promoting brand KFC.

KFC powered its way into different countries and became a global brand, but its logo continues to showcase, even today, the force behind KFC - the face of Colonel Harland Sanders.

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Content is created by Wealth Forum and must not be construed as an opinion by Reliance Mutual Fund.



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