Rejected 1009 times. But Colonel Sanders' chicken was already selling
Colonel Sanders lost his restaurant at the age of 65.
With the fried chicken recipe he had left,
he went around to restaurants across the U.S. and was rejected 1009 times.
Even so, he did not give up and secured a contract on his 1010th attempt.
"It is not a failure if you do not give up until you succeed."
This is how the story is often introduced.
However, the facts are a little different.
In reality, his chicken was already selling
before he lost his restaurant.
He lost his father when he was a child
and began working around the age of 10.
He experienced various jobs,
such as a railroad worker, insurance salesman, and tire salesman.
And after changing jobs many times,
in 1930, at the age of 40, Sanders
was put in charge of managing
a gas station in Corbin, Kentucky.
What he started there was serving food
to travelers who stopped by for gas.
At first, he served food to a few customers
at his own dining table in the back of the gas station.
Customers who had traveled long distances
needed not only gas but also a meal.
Sanders saw the people who came for gas
not just as people buying gas,
but as people who were hungry from a long journey.
Before long, his cooking gained a reputation,
and the small diner grew into a restaurant
with over 100 seats.
In 1935, in recognition of his contribution to the state through his cooking,
he was given an honorary title by the governor"Kentucky Colonel"
.
He was not a colonel in the military.
Later, Sanders would perfect his look: a white suit, a black ribbon tie,
and a white beard.
He transformed from a single cook named Harland Sanders
into someone anyone could remember at a glance,
"Colonel Sanders".
In 1939, Sanders' restaurant was destroyed by fire.
However, he rebuilt it as a larger restaurant than before.
What he lost in the fire was the building.
The reputation of his food, the recipes, and the travelers
passing by the shop remained.
If he restored the building, he could do business again.
Around this time, Sanders had also created a method
to cook fried chicken in a short time
using a pressure cooker.
Fried chicken usually
takes time to cook,
but the flavor suffers if it is made in advance.
However, through pressure cooking,
he was able to provide freshly made chicken
without making customers wait long.
The restaurant flourished once again.
However, in the early 1950s, the junction of the main road
that was in front of the store was moved to another location,
and customer traffic began to decline.
As if to add insult to injury,
in 1955, it became clear that a newly planned highway
would bypass the store.
Customers who used to pass in front of the store
would flow to the new road.
It was not that the taste of the chicken had declined,
nor that the store's reputation had worsened.
That is why he sold off his thriving store
before it stopped selling.
But he did not suddenly come up with the idea of a franchise
after losing his store.
He signed his first contract in 1952,
several years before he sold his own store.
The other party was a man named Pete Harman,
who ran a restaurant in Utah.
He did not build a new KFC store.
Harman already had a store, a kitchen, employees,
and customers.
He added Sanders' fried chicken to his menu
as one of the items.
What Sanders provided was
his unique recipe and the cooking method using a pressure cooker.
Also, initially, it was not a franchise,
but a contract where he would pay money for every piece of chicken
that Sanders provided.
For Harman,
there was no need to introduce equipment or renovate the store.
He just had to use his existing kitchen and add one new menu item
for his current customers.
If it didn't sell, there was no need to pay,
and if it did sell, it would be profitable for both parties.
Sanders could also reduce the risk
of opening new stores,
and he was able to test whether his chicken would sell
at other stores as well.
Sanders did not create the system that leads to today's KFC
all by himself from the beginning.
It is said that the name "Kentucky Fried Chicken"
was thought up by
Harman, the first franchisee.
Harman's ingenuity also played a major role
in the take-out buckets and sales methods.
Sanders brought in the chicken that would sell,
and Harman added a format that was easy for customers to buy.
While actually selling it, the product name, presentation,
and delivery methods were refined.
And as the number of franchise stores increased,
even if Sanders himself didn't fry the chicken,
he could increase sales.
However, the number of franchise stores didn't just increase on its own.
After letting go of his own restaurant,
he loaded a pressure cooker and spices into his car
and traveled to restaurants all over the country.
He would actually make the chicken in the owner's kitchen,
have them taste it, and increase his contracts.
If you only have your own store,
there is a limit to how much you can increase sales.
But if the same thing you made
could be sold at other stores,
you could expand your business beyond the amount you could cook yourself.
It is likely true that Sanders visited many restaurants
and was rejected many times,
and I believe it is a fact that he succeeded because he didn't give up.
But even before he closed his restaurant, other stores were already
selling fried chicken using his recipe,
and it was a win-win for both sides.
Moreover, the owners only had to pay if it sold,
so there was no risk.
What Colonel Sanders created
was not a massive franchise from the start.
He turned the food that was selling in his own store
into a recipe and cooking method that others could replicate.
And instead of building new stores,
he had existing stores add just one item to their menu.
They wouldn't lose money if it didn't sell,
and if it did sell, both sides would profit.
KFC started from such a way of selling
that both sides could try out on a small scale.
A sales model
is not something you create perfectly from the beginning.
You start with a small form that is easy for the other party to try,
and then you gradually expand
what actually sells.