KFC (formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken) is a division of Yum! Brands, Inc., and is based in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Founded by Col. Harland Sanders, KFC is known mainly for its fried chicken.
Sanders first served his fried chicken during the Great Depression at a gas station he owned in Corbin, Kentucky, and later at a restaurant and motel he bought across the street. He generally served travelers, often those headed to Florida, so when plans for the new interstate highway system in the 1950s failed to include Corbin, he sold his properties and began to travel the United States to sell his chicken to restaurant owners. Sanders entered into agreements where he would receive five cents for each piece of chicken sold. [1][2][3] The first to take him up on the offer was Pete Harman [4] in Salt Lake City, Utah; together, they opened the world's first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" outlet in 1952. (The Corbin businesses did not bear that name.) Sanders sold the entire KFC franchising operation in 1964 for $2 million, and it has since been sold three more times, most recently to PepsiCo, who made it part of their Tricon Global Restaurants division, now known as Yum! Brands, Inc. In 1997, Tricon was spun off from PepsiCo.
