The story goes that Colonel Sanders began franchising Kentucky Fried Chicken in his mid-sixties. According to a LinkedIn post by Ted J. Schroder, Zone Sales Director for J.R. Simplot Company, “He was earning a nickel for every chicken dinner he sold. Eventually, within two years, he was making $1,000 per day.”
Schroder goes on to tell Colonel Sanders’s story like this:
When there were 600 franchises in 1964, he sold his company to two business men for only $2 million dollars. That’s equivalent to almost $18 million dollars today. After he received his first payment of $500,000 dollars, he immediately gave 10% of it to the Salvation Army. He believed, at the time, it was the best organization to help a struggling husband and wife get back on their feet, as he stated it. He also gave his stores in Canada, valued at $6 million dollars, to an organization that helped put 1,000 students through college all over the country.
That same company that bought Colonel Sanders’s business for $2 million dollars, later sold it for $240 million. He said he didn’t get any of it, stating that’s okay because “$2 million dollars is enough to keep an old person in the family.” He was a man who was not attached to money.
Most of us enter the industry to create a thriving business. There’s the fulfillment that comes from running a successful company—and, of course, we can’t deny that we hope to make a profit as well. Certainly these days, with inflation and supply chain consequences, it’s important to plan for a steady, solid income, for yourself and your employees, with the future in mind.
And Colonel Sanders believed it was just as important to be realistic about planning. There’s what a person needs, and then there is the moment greed takes over. There was no use being the richest person in the cemetery, because you cannot do any business there, he said. The man makes a point, and gave a good lesson, too, in being willing to give-back from his own earnings. Integrating some good will into the business model (and personal finances) is a great way to keep sight of what is most important.
Maybe you think, in the restaurant industry, you can’t make a difference. That’s simply not the case. Restaurants are ideal businesses for creating special fundraising programs, and have historically helped schools, non-profits, and even individuals. Here is one example list of restaurants that have created give-back programs for specific organizations.
In light of the last few years, even as businesses work to regain some lost footing, it is important that we maintain a human component, learning from the community connections formed during the pandemic. It’s a lesson that ages well—from a successful business man in the sixties, like Colonel Sanders, to now, a time when people can come together to make the world a little bit better.