Born on 9/9/1890, in Henryville, Indiana, Harland David Sanders was a successful American entrepreneur.  Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) was the brainchild of Colonel Harland Sanders, who formerly cooked simple country dishes at a roadside gas station in Corbin, Kentucky. Even after the Colonel died in 1980, he is still the famously recognizable face of the company. His entrepreneurial story and road to fast-food fame tell a lot more than the tasty, Finger-licking Good Chicken.

During the Great Depression, KFC founder, Colonel Harland Sanders, began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky. And while in business, he quickly identified the potential of fast-food franchising.

After constantly perfecting his unique and secret blend of 11 herbs and flavors, the first Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet launched near Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1952. And the new chicken flavor quickly challenged the dominance of the Hamburger.

Over a decade after launching KFC, the franchise rapidly expanded, making it impossible for Sanders to manage on his own, so he sold it to investors Jack Massey and John Brown. Colonel Sanders remains a prominent figure in US cultural history, and his portrait is still in all KFC adverts.