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@goodNews4U
Today's RWBYffortpost is on a legendary goyslop patron saint, somewhat unique among fast food mascots in that he was a real person and also the legitimate founder of the company
But did he actually serve in the military to be called a Colonel? How did he start KFC? And did you know he was actually involved in lawsuits against his very own company later in life?
I wasn't sure about writing an effortpost about a person without it becoming indistinguishable from a regular old encyclopedia entry, so I've decided to prototype a model in which properly dramatic facts about the person are listed off in rough order of date. Such a system should show that the people featured in my posts lived suitably dramatic lives worthy of this website
Learn about the above points and more as we explore the subject of my first such biographical effortpost: none other than Colonel Sanders
Since I couldn't find many rDrama comments that were actually informative about Colonel Sanders and KFC, most of the quotes are here because I thought they were funny
Early Life ![:marseymerchant: :marseymerchant:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseymerchant.webp)
I've heard that women can't remember giving birth because it was so traumatic.
I've taken shits like that after kfc and morphine
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@ReeTardyOswald and
@WayOut
Harland David Sanders was born on September 9, 1890 east of Henryville, Indiana. He was the oldest of three kids and lost his father at the age of five. From then on he was taught to handle the family cooking while his mother worked and by the age of seven he was learning to cook with meat
And so began the legend
(To the right is the future Colonel Sanders at chicken-seasoning age. Start your kids early )
The manager asked why she didn't come back sooner instead of eating the whole bucket, which just made her yell louder.
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@SexyFartMan69
Did You Know That Colonel Sanders: Dropped out of school
Sanders had several step fathers and in particular didn't get along with William Broaddus after his mother's 1902 remarriage and the family's move to Greenwood, Indiana. He also said that seventh grade "algebra's what drove [him] off". For these reasons he dropped out of public school and got his first proper job as a farmhand at the age of 12.
Worked many jobs in his youth (and was briefly in the army)
Like a veritable Jack London, Sanders tried his hand at all kinds of occupations and would do anything he could to sustain himself in his youth. At 13 Sanders left home to paint horse carriages, then to work on another farm.
In 1906 he worked as a streetcar after moving in with his uncle, who worked for the company.
But later that year he falsified his age to enlist in the army. At the time US forces were still stationed in Cuba as an ultimate result of the Spanish-American War, making Sanders a veteran of the on and off Occupation of Cuba. He was honorably discharged in 1907 and would be awarded the Cuban Pacification Medal.
So he really was in the army but was only ever a private
Sanders' subsequent other jobs include,
Blacksmith's helper in a railway workshop
Cleaning out the ash pans of steam locomotives
And Steam engine stoker until he was allegedly fired for insubordination
He met his first wife Josephine King in 1909 and would have his three children with her.
THE DOUBLE DOWN KFC TOOK IT OFF THE MENU FOR A LIMITED TIME THEY TOOK AWAY THE DOUBLE DOWN
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@SexyFartMan69 and
@Joe_Manchin
Delivered babies and practiced law before cooking chicken
For a time Sanders would study law at night while working with trains and living with his growing family, but a brawl with a coworker got him fired and he moved to work at another railroad company. Meanwhile his wife took the kids and lived with her parents.
Sanders went on to practice law in Little Rock, Arkansas (the famous segregation Little Rock ) and his wife came back to him. He was able to practice in the Justice of the Peace Corps because at the time it did not require that lawyers pass the bar.
But he would lose this career after another brawl, this time with his own client As written by biographer John Ed Pearce, "[Sanders] had encountered repeated failure largely through bullheadedness, a lack of self-control, impatience, and a self-righteous lack of diplomacy."
Sanders moved back in with his mother and worked at another railroad
Then briefly sold life insurance.
Then started his first corporate venture, a ferry boat company that actually did well for itself
He also took a job as a secretary at the Chamber of Commerce in Columbus, Indiana but wasn't a good fit for it
For whatever reason Sanders chose to sell the ferry business and started a lamp oil company. This failed after Delco introduced electric lamps to the developing region.
He finally made his move to Kentucky to work as a salesman for the Michelin Tire Company, but lost this job after the plant closed.
In 1924 he met the general manager of Standard Oil of Kentucky and got a position running a service station. This lasted until the station closed in 1930.
Sanders would get his real start in food service after opening a Shell service station in North Corbin, Kentucky. He was also said to have helped deliver babies here. According to his autobiography, "There was nobody else to do it. The husbands couldn't afford a doctor when their wives were pregnant."
Chicken ![:marseyblackcock: :marseyblackcock:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseyblackcock.webp)
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@Penny
Sanders' very first restaurant was a hole in the wall food stall operated out of his gas station in North Corbin. Having already been cooking his whole life, he started selling fried chicken as well as other meals like country ham and steaks. His local popularity grew, and, in 1939, food critic Duncan Hines visited Sanders's restaurant and included it in Adventures in Good Eating, his guide to restaurants throughout the US.
Corbin, KY. Sanders Court and CafΓ©
41 β Jct. with 25, 25 E. Β½ Mi. N. of Corbin. Open all year except Xmas.
A very good place to stop en route to Cumberland Falls and the Great Smokies. > Continuous 24-hour service. Sizzling steaks, fried chicken, country ham, hot biscuits. L. 50Β’ to $1; D., 60Β’ to $1
And around this time in 1935, Sanders was made an honorary Kentucky Colonel by Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon β the most well known colonelcy in the United States in part because of Sanders. (US Governors in multiple states can bestow this as an honorific. The origins of this tradition trace back to colonial and antebellum times when wealthy landowners were given the title to commission companies or finance local militias without having to be in the military.) Laffoon was known at the time for handing out a record number of Colonel titles (Other colonels commissioned by Laffoon included Mae West, Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Will Rogers, Fred Astaire, Jean Harlow, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Jack Dempsey and W. C. Fields.) But this didn't make the commission any less legitimate and Sanders would certainly make use of it throughout his life.
Such is the origin of Sanders' famous title, meaning he was technically a private and a colonel
Once had a shootout with a competitor
https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/kfc-colonel-sanders-shoot-out
The colonel was one of the most based men to have ever lived.
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@Fabrico
While running his gas station on Highway 25, Sanders had a large sign painted to direct customers to his station. Business rival Matt Stewart started painting over Sanders' sign, and Sanders would respond by repainting it. This escalated into a shootout in which Stewart killed a Shell employee and was wounded after Sanders returned fire
Sanders was arrested at the scene but had his charges dropped. Stewart went to prison for homicide and suddenly the competition was no more.
Tried to kidnap his own children
At around this time Sanders' relationship with his first wife had deteriorated and he was seeing a mistress, Claudia Ledington-Price, that he would later marry. After getting a very critical letter from his brother-in-law, Sanders came to visit and found all his furniture had been distributed amongst the other in-laws. He felt the need to get back at his wife's family.
The originally dramatic plan was to camp out in the woods until his children came out to play and just take them He eventually thought better of it though and worked out a deal with Josephine. The two divorced after the kids were grown.
Opened the first proper Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Utah
In July of '39 Sanders also acquired a motel in Asheville, North Carolina, but the original service station would be destroyed in a fire. Sanders then built a Corbin motel with a new restaurant inside.
By 1940 and at the age of 50, Sanders had perfected his chicken recipe and started cooking his chicken using a pressure fryer β faster than pan frying but without unacceptable moisture loss. This new technique might have immediately made Sanders money had it not been for America's entry into WWII Gas was rationed and tourism dried up, leading to the closure of the second motel. He went to supervise cafeterias for the government at an ordnance works in Tennessee, followed by a job as assistant cafeteria manager. He left Claudia to manage the original location and waited out the war and immediate post-war economic stagnation until '52, the year the world would be blessed with its first KFC
Japan kfc sells out of their Christmas fried chicken dinners every year
You can see the pyramids from a sit down pizza Hut in Egypt
After a visit to a Roman coliseum you can wash it down with a coke and big mac
America has culturemaxxd the world lmaooo
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@johnnypoop
The original "Kentucky Fried Chicken" opened in South Salt Lake, Utah on the 24th of September, 1952 The restaurant was operated by Pete Harman, who was already known for having the city's most popular eatery. He worked closely with Sanders to develop the franchising concept and would ultimately be able to use the Colonel's recipe in exchange for 4 cents off every chicken sold. His other claims to fame are the development of the bucket packaging and the emphasis on the "Finger-lickin' good" motto.
The name "Kentucky Fried Chicken" was chosen because it seemed exotic in Utah and invoked an air of southern hospitality. Sales more than tripled in the first year with around 75% of total sales coming from fried chicken. Several other restaurant owners would also franchise the concept after Harman's success.
However, this wasn't quite the start of the modern KFC corporation.
Wasn't wildly successful until he was old and grey
Don't quit cos you're 65. Maybe your boat hasn't come in yet. Mine hadn't.
β Colonel Sanders in multiple interviews
For the most part, Sanders still made his living off profits from his original North Corbin restaurant, but at the age of 65 he was forced to sell it after President Eisenhower's new interstate system directed traffic away from his once prominent location. He was left with only his savings, social security payments, and the small amount of money gained from those early franchisees. With nothing else to turn to, Sanders devoted himself to expanding his food sales by incorporating Kentucky Fried Chicken. He traveled the country in his '46 Ford trying to sign up as many restaurant owners as he could.
Though he'd started dressing the part with his trademark white suit and bleached facial hair, the Colonel wasn't yet famous outside of a few Kentucky circles. He spent nights in his car and did all the legwork himself, to the point of personally cooking the chicken in demonstrations with potential business partners. Sanders' autobiography mentions hundreds of restaurant visits and that he was usually turned down, but more and more franchisees gradually signed on as the '50s continued.
Fun Fact: One of the franchisees was Dave Thomas, the eventual founder of Wendy's Thomas developed the rotating red bucket sign, was an early advocate of the take-out concept that Harman had pioneered, and introduced a bookkeeping form that Sanders rolled out across the entire KFC chain
Another was John Wayne Gacy
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@RWBY
When KFC finally took off, it took off. By 1960 there were about 200 franchised restaurants. By '63 there were over 600, making it the largest fast food chain in the nation at the time. KFC was notably the first and biggest fast food chain to focus on chicken, or really, anything besides hamburgers. In the meantime Sanders had grown into something of an icon, and was now making five cents for every chicken sold
He was even considered as a potential running mate for George Wallace's 1968 Presidential Campaign. (He ultimately chose Curtis LeMay)
Mascot and Icon ![:vegetakneel: :vegetakneel:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/vegetakneel.webp)
β /r/todayilearned
However, KFC's unprecedented expansion had become too much for the Colonel to manage. In 1964 and at the age of 73, Sanders sold KFC to a group of investors led by John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey. The deal stipulated that he would remain a salaried brand ambassador and quality control consultant. He also retained ownership of Canadian operations.
In '65 he and Claudia moved to Mississauga, Ontario. The Colonel actually spent the rest of his life there as a leaf
Was Drama-Pilled
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@BFBugleberry
For the most part the Colonel spent his old age being dramatic and enjoying his status. He remained (and still is) a living icon of the company and would travel over 200,000 miles a year on the company's behalf while also filming advertisements of all kinds. He was happy to play the part of a southern gentleman, though he could also be a shit-stirrer
Apparently whenever Sanders traveled with blacks in the south, he would go out of his way to open doors for them just to mess with people. In one instance when traveling with a company spokesman, someone asked the man who he was to have the Colonel open doors for him. Sanders replied something to the effect of, "He's my son, but we don't talk about it."
The Colonel loved pulling surprise inspections of restaurants and would become infuriated if the food wasn't up to his standards. He was fond of throwing food on the floor and swearing at employees. At times he would barge into the kitchen and insist on showing the cooks how the chicken should have been cooked.
He hated the "extra crispy" recipe in particular since it wasn't an invention of his. As other chicken chains began to emerge, KFC created it to compete with places that used a traditional batter instead of a flour dredge. Sanders never forgave corporate for it In an article published by the Louisville Courier-Journal on October 8, 1975, he told journ*list Dan Kauffman:
My God, that gravy is horrible. They buy tap water for 15 to 20 cents a thousand gallons and then they mix it with flour and starch and end up with pure wallpaper paste. And I know wallpaper paste, by God, because I've seen my mother make it. ... There's no nutrition in it and they ought not to be allowed to sell it. ... [The] crispy [fried chicken] recipe is nothing in the world but a darn fried doughball stuck on some chicken.
Eventually came to hate KFC and was involved in lawsuits
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@911roofer
KFC was acquired by Heublein Inc. in 1971. They actually sued Sanders over his comments in interviews and because he and his wife had opened a new restaurant, "The Colonel's Lady's Dinner House", and were considering expanding it.
The Colonel won this and countersued over the use of his image in products he hadn't developed.
This ain't no goddam Tennessee Fried Chicken, no matter what some slick, silk-suited son-of-a-b-word says
-- Sanders following the move of corporate headquarters to Nashville, Tennessee
The two sides settled out of court, with Sanders receiving $1 million and a chance to give a cooking lesson to Heublein executives in return for his promise to stop criticizing Kentucky Fried Chicken's food. The Colonel's new restaurant would not be franchised though it remained and still remains open as the Claudia Sanders Dinner House. It is the only establishment besides KFC legally allowed to use Sanders' original recipe.
The Colonel would remain an active and well traveled figure until the end of his days. He is said to have only worn his trademark white suit for the last twenty years of his life for all public appearances and never dropped the character even after leaving KFC. He also continued making surprise inspections of random KFCs until '79. He was also a Freemason
He died in 1980 at the age of 90. His body was laid in state in the rotunda of the Kentucky State Capitol after a funeral attended by over 500 people. A memorial service held at KFC's headquarters was also attended by over 1,000 people. By that time there were over 6,000 KFC outlets in operation
Once cursed a Japanese baseball team
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@Yakub
The Colonel's continuous status as an icon and mascot hardly needs explaining, so I'll end this post on a fun example of it. The Curse of the Colonel states Sanders put a hex on the Hanshin Tigers after the baseball team's joyous fans celebrated a 1985 championship by tossing his statue, taken from a local Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, into an Osaka river. They appeared in the Japan Series three more times and lost in 2003, 2005 and 2014.
The statue was retrieved in 2009, but it wasn't until 2023 that The Hanshin Tigers finally won their first Japan Series title in 38 years.
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It's my profile birthday today!
![:marseyparty: :marseyparty:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseyparty.webp)
!goyslopenjoyers Come pay tribute to a legend![:marseykneel: :marseykneel:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseykneel.webp)
!historychads Fast food empires have history too![:marseyhmmhips: :marseyhmmhips:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseyhmmhips.webp)
!dixie Come pay tribute to the greatest of all Colonels![:vegetakneel: :vegetakneel:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/vegetakneel.webp)
!burgers Kentucky Fried Effortpost![:marseyfriedchicken: :marseyfriedchicken:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseyfriedchicken.webp)
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As a certified turbo-neurodivergent goyslop connoiseur
, I WANT to like KFC, but unfortunately, KFC in Brazil is a fricking joke, the fried chicken tendies from Burger King, Poopeye's, and Bobs are much, much better, I have no fricking clue how KFC has not gone bankrupt in Brazil yet, they always have way less clients in their waiting lines at shopping malls when compared to other restaurants, like just look at this shit, it's not even funny it's depressing:
https://old.reddit.com/r/brasil/comments/uvlz1g/resolvi_ir_almoçar_no_kfc_hoje_sempre_tive/ !macacos !goyslopenjoyers
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you think your KFC is bad, but is your coleslaw neon green and nearly pureed like !leafs
![https://i.rdrama.net/images/17220957149415255.webp](https://i.rdrama.net/i/l.webp)
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what the frick
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Fun fact, I've known multiple dogs who won't eat that stuff
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I used to know a dog that loved malt liquor and whiskey
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Pit? Wait, whiskey not cognac
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It was a jack russell
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Really pushing the definition of coleslaw.... more like cold slop amirite
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That's KFC everywhere. They're stuck in a death spiral. Taco Bell is singlehandedly carrying that franchise, KFC failed to invest in their domestic market while hoping their overseas restaurants would take off.
They have been steadily cutting corners ever since to maximize margin. In the 80s they used to still butcher entire chickens in store, and even when everything came ready made frozen in the 90s it was still good
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Few people know that Harland Sanders lived in Canada for over 20-30 years. When he sold KFC he moved to Mississauga Ontario and promptly started a chain called Scott's Chicken Villa and Scott's chicken was fricking awesome.
He had all you can eat buffet on Sundays and I actually met Colonel Sanders when I was a little boy at one of these Sunday buffets. He was all dressed up 100% in his white suit and string tie and was a very nice man.
Anyway, so Scott's got bought out and converted to KFC Canada. The last time I had it the chicken was soggy and flavourless and the mashed potatoes and gravy tasted like cardboard and glue I ended up throwing half of it out.
I just wish I could experience that authentic full fat full seasoned Scott's chicken one more time it was amazing.
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Now you know one one-hundredth of the rage the Colonel felt as his company spiraled out of control![:marseykfcgenocide:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseykfc.webp)
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The Colonel died in 1980. KFC has been garbage ever since.![:marseysaluteconfederacy: :marseysaluteconfederacy:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseysaluteconfederacy.webp)
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I remember talking about this with you before
I promise KFC in America is better though the quality can vary between locations. I'm pretty picky about KFC so once I find a good location I'll only go to that one.
One of these days I oughta make a road trip to the Claudia Sanders Dinner House, assuming they are in fact still using the Colonel's original recipe.
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That's not a review site. KFC é a mesma bosta em nos EUA e na Argentina, eu não achei diferença
Eu nunca vou entender esse pessoal que pede arroz e salada em fast-food. Se for pra eu comer arroz e salada vou num bife decente, nΓ£o num restaurante de slop com o mesmo valor nutricional que um pacote de fandangos ou batata ruffles.
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LOL
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Blud really managed to find an even more irrelevant topic to longpost about
![:skull: :skull:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/skull.webp)
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Fast-foodslop is an extremely relevant topic to American culture
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Thanks for the gold![:marseyxoxo: :marseyxoxo:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseyxoxo.webp)
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Rwby neurodivergent interest list![:marseylongpost2: :marseylongpost2:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseylongpost2.webp)
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I'm fairly certain I have 100 effortposts worth![:marseyhmmhips: :marseyhmmhips:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseyhmmhips.webp)
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!effortposters![:marseywave2: :marseywave2:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseywave2.webp)
!pinggrouplovers![:marseywave3: :marseywave3:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseywave3.webp)
!pings![:marseyxoxo: :marseyxoxo:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseyxoxo.webp)
!maBIPOCs![:dumstickdancer: :dumstickdancer:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/dumstickdancer.webp)
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they be seasoning they chicken an shiet
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!familyman![:marseyfamily: :marseyfamily:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseyfamily.webp)
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always the strangest thing
humoids are mammals and so are cows and pigs and eat each other all day
but a seagull eating a chicken gets conflated with cannibalism???
what is this birdphobic slander? why are mammals like this?![:marseydisagree: :marseydisagree:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseydisagree.webp)
!biology the way birs process piss is different chemicals and it all combines thats why the colrs I think
![:eaglebussy: :eaglebussy:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/eaglebussy.webp)
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Happy birthday, BIPOC.
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