My first job in 1974 was at KFC, later became a manager. Met the colonel at a catering event in San Diego. Several KFC girls working the event with me were standing without a place to sit. Remember those red and white striped outfits? Well the Colonel being the southern gentleman he was, personally went to get chairs so ALL of the ladies could sit down. He never did sit down by the way, but the ladies sure did. Southern hospitality at its best.
I started working for Col. Sanders in 1961 at the age of 14. At a store located in Garden Grove, CA. at Harbor Blvd and Garden Grove Blvd. This store was owned by Jim Collins.
We shared the restaurant space with Hamburger Handout. I worked at this store for 3 years and 9 months and later at another store in Santa Ana. Col. Sanders would come to our store almost every month. We cut our own chicken, made gravy from scratch and mixed the packets of spices into a mixture of 50/50 flour and regular flour.
I worked grand openings in SoCal for new stores. We sold 3 piece boxes that included 3 pieces of chicken, potatoes & gravy, cole slaw and a roll for $0.55 per box. We had people lined up literally for over a mile. There was a limit of 8 boxes per customer.
I worked 48 hours per week for $1.10/hour during the summer. During high school I worked after school and on weekends.
I ate a piece of KFC chicken every day I worked at KFC. I still love the Original Recipe.
I am still friends with a co-worker at KFC that helped me get my job at KFC. He stayed at the GG store even while in college.
Oh the stories would could tell about those early days.
My grandparents lived right next door to Colonel Sanders for several years in Shelbyville, Ky. The funny thing is my grandfather was a colonel and his name was Harold Saunders and often their mail got mixed up. I visited over there and have a small photograph of him signed to Kate (me) hand dated 3/6/76.
In the early 1970s I was in the USMC stationed on the coast in North Carolina. One of my trips back home to Ohio had me driving up I-75 through Kentucky. Being alert and seeing a limo in the right lane of the highway which had a military eagle on it, I cruised past expecting to see some high ranking military colonel. It was the Colonel with his pleasant smile and familiar face. He waved to me, and I saluted in return. It made this trip home a real joy.
An independent survey ranks the Colonel as the world's second most recognizable celebrity.
As a summer job, I drove a yellow cab in Louisville during the summer of 1970. As luck would have it, Colonel Sanders came out of the airport and into my cab. It was just a short trip to KFC's headquarters so I expected a small fare and therefore a small tip. So what type tip does the founder of KFC give a young cab driver for a $4.00 fare? A gift certificate for the largest size family bucket of chicken KFC offered! I will always remember that short ride.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Col. Sanders would attend one day of the Wilmore Campmeeting during the summer. I can still remember him in his white suit; he always looked so dignified.
One time in the 1970s, Col. and Mrs. Sanders invited the faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary to come with their spouses for dinner at their home in Shelbyville. They served us at two huge dining tables (about 30 of us, as I recall) and did all the cooking themselves. Besides the fried chicken, he had about a dozen side dishes, all piled high. Delicious!
Kentucky Fried Chicken was a real treat for us when I was growing up. We only had it on Sundays after church and only every few weeks. When I was about six years old (42 years ago), I was travelling with my mother at the St. Louis airport. It was relatively early in the morning and there weren't many people around. As we were walking through the terminal, I noticed an older gentleman in a white suit walking toward us. He was still some distance away when I told my mother, "That looks like Colonel Sanders!" As we got closer, I realized it really was him and I took off running toward him as fast as I could, leaving my mother running after me! I ran up to him and asked, "Are you Colonel Sanders?" He said, "Well, yes, I am," in a very mild-mannered way. I proceeded to tell him how much I loved his chicken. He was so polite and down to Earth. When my mother caught up to me, he introduced himself to her and was the perfect gentleman. I think he shook my hand, thaked me for eating his chicken, and told my mother and me to have a good flight. When I went back to school, I told my story at show and tell. To this day, it's one of my clearest and most cherished childhood memories!
My father was a Shriner and we often traveled to the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children in Lexington. Colonel Sanders was a Shriner, too. He often visited the children there. The Sunday we were there he quietly came into the Hospital without fanfare just to talk with the kids. I was so impressed that he took his time to do that and also to privately donate a huge amount of money to support the Shriners' efforts at all their hospitals.
I met Colonel Sanders at a small cemetery in Southern Indiana. I was there with my folks who were checking tombstones for relatives. There was this gentleman who was dressed in a while suit who was also looking over the tombstones. The folks struck up a conversation with him and after a couple of minutes he said, "You don't know who I am, do you? I'm Colonel Sanders."
Yes, he knew the KFC restaurant owner in Anderson, where we were from, and he told a little something about the owner and his store. We talked for a few more minutes and then went our separate ways. I wasn't aware of who Colonel Sanders was as I had just come out of the U.S. Navy, but I did learn quickly.
I was at a Long John Silvers' convention in the late 70's and Warren Rosenthal the founder of LJS along with Jerry Lederer, founder of Jerry's Resturants, was sharing a story with us. Back in the 50-60's most resturant products were made "in-house" and one day an "old man" came to them and asked if they would show him how they put their Carry-Out Chicken Boxes together. After conferring with each other, they decided "What harm can a 60 year old man do to their business, by sharing a simple little 'secret' like that?" As they say, the rest is history.
In 1978 I was in the USAF stationed at Homestead AFB. I was on Collins Ave. on Miami Beach when I noticed a small group of people gaithered around a beauty shop window. They were all pointing at a man sitting in a chair getting his hair treated. It was Colonel Sanders with one of his daughters. He came outside when he was finished and greeted everyone. What a treat it was to meet him in person.
As a young U.S. Army lieutenant in the early 70's I was assigned to escort Col. Sanders during a day at Fort Knox, Ky., while the Colonel was there to speak to our troops about support to the Boy Scouts of America. I was warned that the Colonel could be a bit cantankerous and that I should be careful to not let him get into any kind of "situation." Needless to say, I was scared to death. The day turned out to be a wonderful experience. The Colonel was delightful and treated me like an old friend -- we actually had fun visiting the various troop units and having a lot of casual conversation along the way. It was a day that I will never forget. He was really a pretty "down to earth" good guy!
When I was a little girl in the 1970's, my parents would take me to dinner at "Scott's Chicken Villa" in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. At that time, this precursor to KFC was a proper sit-down restaurant and we would get dressed up to dine there. Several times, Colonel Sanders visited the restaurant when we were there. I was always struck by his white suit and kindly way. The children were all given white plastic piggy-banks that looked like the Colonel. I had that bank for many years...wish I still had it today!
My mom used to work at a steakhouse in Kentucky. Across the street was a White Castle. My Mom was there eating lunch one day when Colonel Sanders walked in. My Mom (who has never met a stranger) walked right over to him and asked for a autograph. She got one... on a White Castle fry box!
About 35 years ago, I met the Colonel at a party and I went up to him and said "Colonel, if you can do all that with fried chicken, surely you can do something with franks and burgers." He just smiled and stroked his goatee.
In 1978, I worked for the Los Angeles KFC co-op advertising agency. My job that day was to pick up Colonel Sanders at his hotel and drive him to the KFC in Hollywood where we were shooting a commercial. It was about 6:30 a.m. and we were driving down Olympic Blvd. past a jogger. Colonel Sanders said to me, "Look at that guy, running himself to death!"
My grandfather opened his first 4-B's restaurant in Missoula, Montana in 1947 and eventually included 27 units in a multi-state area. He was fond of telling the story of the Colonel visiting him, and pitching him his idea of selling chicken with his secret recipe. My grandfather told him it would never fly. He loved that story, and laughed about his miscalculation. Until his death in 1988, he was always searching for the perfect chicken recipe.
I grew up in Louisville in the late 60's and 70's in a great neighborhood called Hurstbourne. The Colonel lived down the street from me and I remember knocking on his door every Halloween in my costume and holding my pillowcase full of candy. He and Mrs. Sanders would open the door and we would all yell "Trick or Treat" and then we got to choose between a cold Pepsi or a handful of nickels. I always chose the nickels. Sorry, Pepsi; I was always a Coke guy. The funny thing is that every year, one of the kids would have a paper sack and when that cold, wet Pepsi went in one end, it invariably busted out of the other. I think he even got used to it and had some replacement bags handy. I was young back then, but I remember him and the Mrs. very clearly. They were larger than life.
In 1974 I was a grad student at Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca, NY. As a part of an annual major industry event I co-authored a musical comedy about a man who tries to start a restaurant. One of the premises of the story was that the hero would be visited regularly by the spirit of a humorous Colonel Sanders who would tell him how to do it better. We had an actor/student play the Colonel who looked very much like him. Our Colonel always carried a drumstick in his pocket and handed them out like cigars.
Because we were using the KFC trademark Colonel, we were asked to send the script to KFC for approvals. They sent it back with a few requested changes. As a courtesy, we invited the Colonel to come to the opening which surprisingly he did! So he attended this gathering of industry executives, and even mentioned to me that he had taken a course at Cornell.
I was his official escort for two days. At the premiere in front of 3,000 people he joined the cast on stage and shook hands with our Colonel and accepted a drumstick. The audience gave him a standing ovation. As he was leaving the next morning he thanked us all and then asked me if I would join his company (My roots are from Paducah, KY). I didn't, but it was fun spending two days with a legend.
The show played around the the northeast playing to Cornell alums before it was ended.
My father and uncle were the Colonel's dentist and doctor while he lived in Shelbyville. I had the honor of working (Kentucky Inn) for the Colonel for about 3 years. He was a great and generous man who taught me many lessons about life and working hard. I will never forget how he took me under his wing at the age of 14. I have several stories about the Colonel that I could share. He is truly missed. God Bless.
As a youngster, my mother would always serve my favorite dish on my birthday. For years it was always Colonel Sanders' chicken. One day I recall meeting the Colonel at the White Castle that used to be at the corner of Shelbyville Road and Chenoweth Lane in St. Matthews.
I first came to know Kentucky Fried Chicken and who the Colonel was from the store located in Morehead, Ky. While attending Morehead State along with several classmates we attended the 100th running of the KY Derby. During the races the Colonel in his notable white attire came by our group and visited a while, of course drawing a crowd at the same time he was offering advice on the races. The next year I was working the night desk at a Kentucky State Park at Carter Caves. A sunburned couple came to check in and they shared with me that they had just left the Derby and drove to the park. Asking about their day, they only shared with me that they had met Colonel Sanders in the infield and that was the highlight of their day. The last story to share is that of the one from my Father who loved to tell about the day of December 21, 1947, his wedding day with his new bride on the their way to Daytona Beach, Fla., stopped in Corbin that evening to eat and how impressed he was with the cook and owner of the store. Come to find out years later this same old man became a millionaire and his likeness was on the store signs and each box of chicken!
When I was a grade school student in Louisville, Ky., the Colonel would stop by the school and give us butterscotch candy from the pocket of his white jacket. I remember him doing this two or three times and as a 10 year old, I really did not have an appreciation for what was happening at that moment.
In 1973 it was everyone for themselves when boarding planes. My mother, carrying a half-year-old me, was struggling across the tarmac when the Colonel noticed her. He insisted on helping her onto the plane, carrying my diaper bag and making me smile. My mother was always amazed that this important man, followed by bodyguards, took the time to carry a diaper bag!
I was in grade school and our class went on a field trip and stopped at KFC for lunch. Sitting near the checkout counter was an elderly goateed man who asked me if I liked the chicken. I did not realize at the time that it was the Colonel. But thinking back, I am convinced that it was him. It was approximately 1973 in Portland, Oregon.
My grandfather, the late Dr. Charles Chatham passed away this past October. He was a dentist in Shelbyville, Ky., for 60 years. He put in Colonel Sanders' dentures. My mother, Star Chatham was also his first waitress at Colonel Sanders' restaurant in Shelbyville. She went to Car Dome, a boarding school, and she would work on the weekends to pay her tuition. He also helped her with her tuition I believe. He bought my older sister Missy a dress and my older brother Luke an outfit when they were born. Pretty cool I think!
The Colonel was trying to take a picture of the new Carry Out that I helped my dad build onto the Hobby Ranch House Restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The new carryout would sell the new Kentucky Fried Chicken along with the Hickory smoked BBQ products the restaurant was famous for. That was also the restaurant where Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's, met the Colonel. The Colonel was swearing at the new camera and couldn't figure what to do to take a picture. I told him I was my high school's photographer and could help him. He then asked if I would do some photos of how to cook his special recipe chicken. I did the first step-by-step photos in a book showing how to cook Kentucky Fried Chicken. When completed he would travel with it showing restaurant owners "How to." I remember having charged him for my great work -- $21.63 -- and well worth it!!
I remember seeing Colonel Sanders and Mrs. Sanders often in Shelbyville, Ky., as a teenager. My clearest memory of them was when I was taking my driver's test at 16 early in the morning. They pulled out in front of me with Mrs. Sanders driving with the windows fogged up on her giant boat size white two door Lincoln. Since she didn't stop for her stop sign I swerved into the parking lane to keep from hitting her. The state trooper testing me started swearing and told me to go on back to the starting point. I had already made several errors and figured that was it but when we returned he filled out my paperwork and told me if I could miss the Colonel I was ready to drive! Ya never knew when he was going to pop up around town. They both were kind, giving people.
In the 60's the Colonel would come to his restaurant on Preston, Porky Pig House. My friend's mother worked there, so we saw him a lot. One day we were there, he pulled up in his 65 white Cadillac, came in, bought us lunch and sat down with us to eat.