Net Worth Ranker
What Is Colonel Harland David Sanders’ Net Worth?
At the time of his death on December 16, 1980, at the age of 90, Colonel Harland David Sanders, the iconic founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), had a net worth of approximately $3.5 million. Adjusting for inflation, this sum equates to roughly $10 million in today’s dollars. While this figure might seem modest compared to the staggering $23 billion in annual revenue that KFC generates today, it’s crucial to consider the historical context and Sanders’ various financial decisions throughout his life.
Colonel Sanders’ Early Life and Diverse Career Ventures
Harland Sanders was born on September 9, 1890, in Henryville, Indiana, the eldest of three children born to Margaret and Wilbur Sanders. His early life was marked by the necessity of providing for his family. Following his father’s death in 1895, his mother worked at a tomato cannery, and Sanders took on the responsibility of caring for his siblings. By age seven, he had become proficient in cooking vegetables. After his mother remarried and moved to Greenwood, Indiana, Sanders dropped out of school in 1903 and worked on a nearby farm. He subsequently found employment painting horse carriages in Indianapolis.
Sanders’ diverse career path included a stint as a conductor for a streetcar company in New Albany, Indiana, in 1906. He then enlisted in the US Army, falsifying his date of birth. Following his discharge in early 1907, Sanders moved to Sheffield, Alabama, and secured a job as a blacksmith’s assistant with the Southern Railway, thanks to his uncle’s assistance. He later worked for the Northern Alabama Railroad and the Norfolk and Western Railway, eventually becoming a steam engine stoker on the Illinois Central Railroad in 1909.
Alongside his railroad career, Sanders pursued legal studies through La Salle Extension University. He practiced law in Little Rock, Arkansas, for three years before a courtroom brawl with a client forced him to return to his mother’s home in Henryville, Indiana. He then worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad before transitioning to a sales role at Prudential, selling life insurance. After being fired for insubordination, he took another sales job with Mutual Benefit Life. In 1920, Sanders ventured into entrepreneurship, establishing a ferry boat company operating on the Ohio River between Jeffersonville and Louisville. A couple of years later, he became secretary at the Chamber of Commerce in Columbus, Indiana. After resigning within a year, Sanders cashed in his ferry boat company shares and established a business manufacturing acetylene lamps. However, the business failed, and he then worked as a salesman for the Michelin Tire Company in Winchester, Kentucky.
The Rise of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Sanders’ Financial Turning Point
In 1924, Sanders’ career took a significant turn when he met the general manager of Standard Oil of Kentucky, who invited him to run a service station in Nicholasville. He managed the station until it closed in 1930 during the Great Depression. Subsequently, the Shell Oil Company offered Sanders his own service station in North Corbin, Kentucky, rent-free, in exchange for a percentage of his sales. At this roadside stop, Sanders began serving chicken dishes and other meals, marking the genesis of what would become Kentucky Fried Chicken. In 1935, he was commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel.
Sanders’ restaurant business steadily grew. After his North Corbin restaurant burned down in 1939, he rebuilt it in Asheville, North Carolina, as a restaurant and motel combination. By the summer of 1940, he had perfected his “secret” recipe for fried chicken using a pressure fryer. The onset of World War II led to a decline in tourism, forcing him to close the Asheville location in late 1941. He briefly worked in Seattle before taking on cafeteria jobs in Tennessee. In 1950, Sanders was recommissioned as a Kentucky Colonel. Two years later, he franchised his “secret” Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe for the first time to Pete Harman, a restaurant operator in South Salt Lake, Utah. The recipe proved to be a resounding success, more than tripling sales at Harman’s restaurant within a year. This achievement prompted Sanders to franchise his recipe to numerous other restaurant owners.
Sanders expanded his fried chicken franchising operations throughout the United States and internationally, including countries such as Canada, Mexico, Australia, and the United Kingdom. In 1963, he trademarked the memorable slogan “It’s Finger Lickin’ Good.” By 1964, KFC had grown to over 600 locations, creating overwhelming operational demands for Sanders. At 73 years old, Sanders made the pivotal decision to sell the company to a group of investors for $2 million. Adjusted for inflation, this equates to approximately $15 million today. As part of the deal, Sanders retained control of KFC operations in Canada and became a salaried brand ambassador for the company, the face of KFC in television commercials and advertisements. His signature white suit, white hair, and distinctive mustache and goatee became iconic symbols of the brand.
Colonel Sanders’ Later Years and Criticisms of KFC
In his later years, Colonel Sanders became critical of changes KFC made to its food in attempts to cut costs and time. During the 1970s, he frequently made surprise visits to KFC restaurants, and if he was dissatisfied with the food, he would criticize the franchisee, sometimes even pushing the food onto the floor. He publicly described the company’s gravy as “sludge.” As a result of his disappointment with the direction KFC was taking, Sanders and his wife opened a restaurant serving KFC-style chicken as part of a full-service dinner menu. However, Sanders sold the restaurant after being sued by Heublein, the parent company of KFC. The restaurant continued to operate and remains the only non-KFC restaurant authorized to serve an authentic version of Sanders’ fried chicken recipe.
Personal Life and Final Years
In 1909, Harland Sanders married Josephine King, and together they had three children: Margaret, Harland Jr., and Mildred. During his marriage to Josephine, Sanders had an affair with Claudia Ledington-Price, whom he later married in 1949 after divorcing King.
In mid-1980, Sanders was diagnosed with leukemia. He passed away from pneumonia at the end of the year at the age of 90. Sanders was buried in his signature white suit and black string tie in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky.
