Editing KFC (section)

=== "Original Recipe" and franchising ===
[[File:Colonel Harland Sanders in character.jpg|thumb|upright|Harland Sanders in character as "the Colonel"]]In July 1940, Sanders finalized what came to be known as his "[[Original Recipe]]" of 11 herbs and spices.<ref name=july1940>{{cite news|last=Schreiner|first=Bruce|title=KFC still guards Colonel's secret|url=http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/072305/bus_19314459.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106024339/http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/072305/bus_19314459.shtml|archive-date=November 6, 2013|url-status=dead|access-date=September 19, 2013|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=July 23, 2005}}</ref> Although he never publicly revealed the recipe, he said the ingredients included [[salt and pepper]] and that the rest "stand on everybody's shelf".<ref name="Kleber1992">{{cite book|last=Kleber|first=John E. |title=The Kentucky Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8eFSK4o--M0C&pg=PA796|access-date=March 13, 2013|date=May 18, 1992|publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]]|isbn=978-0-8131-2883-2|page=796}}</ref> After being recommissioned as a Kentucky Colonel in 1950 by Governor [[Lawrence Wetherby]], Sanders began to dress the part, growing a [[goatee]], wearing a black [[frock coat]] (later switched to a white suit) and a [[string tie]] and referring to himself as "the Colonel".<ref name="Kleber1992" /> His associates went along with the title change, "jokingly at first and then in earnest", according to biographer [[Josh Ozersky]].<ref name="Ozersky">{{cite book|last=Ozersky|first=Josh|title=Colonel Sanders and the American Dream|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qh5AEnwoJuIC|access-date=April 7, 2013|year=2012|publisher=[[University of Texas Press]]|isbn=978-0-292-74285-7|page=25|archive-date=March 13, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313151203/https://books.google.com/books?id=qh5AEnwoJuIC|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1952, Sanders [[franchised]] his recipe to his friend [[Pete Harman]] of [[South Salt Lake, Utah]], the operator of one of the city's largest restaurants.<ref name="mashed">{{cite news|author1=Patty Henetz|author2=Jenifer K. Nii|date=April 21, 2004|title=Colonel's landmark KFC is mashed|newspaper=[[Deseret Morning News]]|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/595057690/Colonels-landmark-KFC-is-mashed.html|access-date=November 13, 2013|archive-date=January 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113154352/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/595057690/Colonels-landmark-KFC-is-mashed.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Sanders Court & Café generally served travelers, so when the route planned in 1955 for [[Interstate 75]] bypassed his properties, Sanders sold them and traveled the US to franchise his recipe to restaurant owners.<ref name="JakleSculle1999">{{cite book|author1=John A. Jakle|author2=Keith A. Sculle|title=Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0nYcgnWKWXgC|access-date=March 13, 2013|year=1999|publisher=[[JHU Press]]|isbn=978-0-8018-6920-4|page=219|archive-date=March 13, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313151226/https://books.google.com/books?id=0nYcgnWKWXgC|url-status=live}}</ref> Independent restaurants would pay four (later five) [[Cent (currency)|cent]]s on each chicken as a franchise fee in exchange for Sanders' recipe and the right to feature it on their menus and use his name and likeness for promotional purposes.<ref name="Liddle, Alan-1996" />

Don Anderson, a sign painter hired by Harman, coined the name "Kentucky Fried Chicken".<ref name="Liddle, Alan-1990" /> For Harman, the addition of KFC was a way of differentiating his restaurant from competitors; a product from Kentucky was exotic and evoked imagery of [[Southern hospitality]].<ref name="Liddle, Alan-1990" /> Harman trademarked the phrase "It's finger lickin' good", which eventually became the company slogan.<ref name="Liddle, Alan-1996" /> He also introduced the "bucket meal" in 1957 (14 pieces of chicken, five [[bread roll]]s and a pint of [[gravy]] in a cardboard bucket).<ref name=Darden1>{{cite book|last=Darden|first=Robert|title=Secret Recipe: Why Kfc Is Still Cooking After 50 Years|date=January 1, 2004|publisher=Tapestry Press|isbn=978-1-930819-33-7|pages=12, 57–58, 101, 159, 175, 211}}</ref> Serving their signature meal in a paper bucket was to become an iconic feature of the company.<ref name=Darden1 />

By 1963, there were 600 KFC restaurants, making the company the largest fast food operation in the United States.<ref name="JakleSculle1999" /> KFC popularized chicken in the fast food industry, diversifying the market by challenging the dominance of the [[hamburger]].<ref name="Smith2007">{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Andrew F.|title=The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AoWlCmNDA3QC|access-date=March 11, 2013|page=341|date=May 1, 2007|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-530796-2|archive-date=March 13, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313151232/https://books.google.com/books?id=AoWlCmNDA3QC|url-status=live}}</ref>

With significant growth in tow, the fledgling Kentucky Fried Chicken decided in 1964 that they would begin offering franchise opportunities beyond the Atlantic, and landed on the United Kingdom as its entry point into Europe. As such, the first British KFC eatery opened its doors at 92 Fishergate in [[Preston, Lancashire]], on May 1, 1965, and still operates today.

Pat Grace met with Sanders at his holiday home near Toronto and agreed to franchise the brand in Ireland. In 1970 Grace returned to Ireland after a number of years in Canada to open his first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Phibsboro shopping center in Dublin. Eventually he opened another six restaurants located in Dublin, Limerick and Cork. After disagreements over cost cutting with KFC management in the early 1980s, the Irish restaurants were renamed to Pat Grace's Famous Fried Chicken reportedly retaining the original recipe. These stores were closed in the late 1980s. Pat Grace went on to wholesale the chicken spice blend under the brand Grace's Perfect Blend.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grace's Perfect Blend History |url=https://gracesperfectblend.com/ |url-status=live |website=Grace's Perfect Blend |access-date=March 13, 2023 |archive-date=February 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215180624/https://gracesperfectblend.com/ }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Glen And Friends Cooking – KFC secret Ingredients revealed |website=YouTube |date=January 22, 2021 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WJYOgzFydc |url-status=live |access-date=July 9, 2022 |archive-date=July 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709153523/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WJYOgzFydc }}</ref>