The Morning That Changed Harland Sanders’ Life
On the morning of May 7, 1931, 50-year-old Harland Sanders was working inside the Shell gas station he managed in Corbin, Kentucky.
It was an important day for Sanders. Two Shell executives were coming to inspect the station, including his supervisor and a district manager. Sanders wanted everything to go well.
He had ambitious plans for the business. One of his ideas was to start selling food at the gas station. Truck drivers often stopped there and asked where they could get something to eat. Sanders believed he could prepare meals himself and earn extra money from hungry travelers.
He also wanted to attract more customers through better advertising.
But his advertising plans had already created a serious problem.
A Feud With a Rival Gas Station Owner
Sanders had been putting up signs around town to advertise his Shell station. Another gas station owner, Matt Stewart, believed those signs were taking customers away from his business.
Stewart began painting over Sanders’ signs.
What started as a business dispute soon became a personal feud.
Sanders was particularly worried about the situation because his Shell supervisors were visiting that day. He wanted them to see him as a responsible manager who could handle his business. He did not want them to see an ongoing fight with another station owner.
Then, just as the corporate visitors arrived, a boy came running into the station.
He told Sanders that Stewart was painting over one of his signs again.
Sanders’ temper got the better of him.
Instead of staying at the station and continuing his inspection, he went to the two Shell executives and told them to get into their car. They drove toward the location where Stewart was reportedly destroying another sign.
The Confrontation on the Highway
The three men soon spotted a large barn with a sign in front of it. Stewart was standing on a ladder and covering one of Sanders’ signs with tar.
Sanders told the driver to stop.
He rolled down the window and confronted Stewart.
The situation quickly became violent.
Stewart climbed down from the ladder and ran toward the car. The Shell district manager got out and appeared to be trying to calm him down.
But Stewart pulled a gun from his jacket.
Sanders shouted a warning, but there was no time to stop what happened next.
Stewart fired.
The district manager was struck in the chest and fell to the ground.
Sanders Takes the District Manager’s Gun
Sanders immediately ran to the wounded manager.
He opened the man’s jacket and tried to find the gunshot wound. The manager was bleeding heavily, and Sanders realized there was little he could do to stop it.
Then Sanders noticed something else.
The district manager was carrying a handgun in a holster.
Stewart was still approaching with his own gun.
Sanders grabbed the manager’s weapon.
Stewart fired again, with the bullet passing close to Sanders’ head.
Sanders then fired back.
By the time police arrived, the district manager was dead. Stewart had been shot in the shoulder but was still alive.
The police initially arrested Sanders and his supervisor and charged Sanders with shooting with intent to kill.
For a short time, the incident appeared to have destroyed Sanders’ business and possibly his future.
The Police Discover Who Started the Shooting
The investigation soon changed the situation.
Police determined that Stewart had been the aggressor.
The charges against Sanders and his supervisor were dropped. Stewart was instead charged with the murder of the Shell district manager.
He was eventually sentenced to 18 years in prison.
With Stewart out of the picture, Sanders no longer had the same competition or the ongoing feud that had consumed so much of his attention.
But the biggest change in Sanders’ life was still ahead.
How Fried Chicken Became Part of Sanders’ Business
Sanders had already been thinking about serving food at his gas station.
With truck drivers regularly stopping for fuel, he saw an opportunity to offer them something to eat without sending them somewhere else.
He eventually began serving fried chicken.
The food became popular.
Sanders developed a reputation for his cooking, and his fried chicken became an important part of the business. His gas station gradually became known for more than gasoline. Travelers were stopping there to eat.
His success eventually brought him wider recognition.
Sanders was commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel, a title that became closely associated with his name.
From then on, many people knew him as Colonel Sanders.
From a Kentucky Gas Station to KFC
What began as a small gas station business eventually developed into something much larger.
Sanders continued working on his fried chicken recipe and the way it was prepared. Over the following decades, the business expanded beyond the original gas station.
His name became connected with Kentucky Fried Chicken, now widely known as KFC.
Today, Colonel Sanders is one of the best-known figures in the fast-food industry. His image, white suit, black string tie and goatee became closely associated with the KFC brand.
But his path to that success was far from simple.
The Strange Connection Between a Gas Station Feud and KFC
The 1931 confrontation was not what made Sanders successful by itself.
His success came from recognizing an opportunity that already existed.
Truck drivers needed somewhere to eat. Sanders could cook, and he realized he could turn his gas station into a place where travelers could buy both fuel and food.
The violent confrontation with Stewart was an unexpected event in that story. But it became part of the unusual chain of events surrounding Sanders’ early business life.
A gas station manager trying to impress his bosses became involved in a shooting after a dispute over advertising signs. Years later, the same businessman became famous for fried chicken.
That makes the story of Colonel Sanders much more complicated than the familiar image associated with KFC.
What Colonel Sanders’ Story Shows
Sanders’ story is a reminder that successful businesses do not always begin with a perfect plan.
His original business was a gas station. His opportunity came from listening to what customers wanted.
Truckers asked for food.
Sanders responded by serving it.
The fried chicken eventually became more important than the gasoline business, and the small operation in Kentucky grew into an international restaurant chain.
The road from a Shell station in Corbin to KFC was long and filled with setbacks. But Sanders continued looking for ways to turn his skills and customer demand into a business.
And one of his most important ideas started with a simple question: if customers are already stopping for fuel, why not give them something good to eat while they are there?