Article by Michael Joseph Lynch
DID YOU KNOW?
A Biography of
Colonel Harland Sanders
nothing short of amazing.
Anyway, the story of the original KFC restaurants is unique—not just because the chain became a huge success, but also because the KFC founder was a real person, actually named Colonel Sanders, who started Kentucky Fried Chicken past the age when most men retire.
Now, at 66 years old, the Colonel did not have much to sell except his goateed, mustachioed image and his secret recipe for chicken. At that time, the concept of fast-food franchising was in its infancy.
I remember back in the early 1970s, my family and I were visiting Traverse City for their annual Cherry Festival. During our time there, I tried Kentucky Fried Chicken for the first time. My dad bought a bucket of chicken, and we went down to a park on Traverse Bay and finished it off at a picnic table. That was my introduction to this great chicken. Unfortunately, over the years, it does not seem to have that same taste anymore—they may have altered the recipe—but the story of this man is