KFC Corporation, or 

KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food
restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky. KFC is a brand and operating segment, called a "concept",
[2]
 of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global Restaurants
Inc.

KFC primarily sells chicken in form of pieces, wraps, salads and sandwiches. While its primary focus is fried
chicken, KFC also offers a line of roasted chicken products, side dishes and desserts. Outside North
America, KFC offers beef based products such ashamburgers or kebabs, pork based products such as ribs and
other regional fare.

The company was founded as Kentucky Fried Chicken by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1952, though the idea of
KFC's fried chicken actually goes back to 1930. The company adopted the abbreviated form of its name in 1991.
[3]
 Starting in April 2007, the company began using its original name, Kentucky Fried Chicken, for its signage,
packaging and advertisements in the United States as part of a new corporate re-branding program;[4][5] newer and
remodeled restaurants will have the new logo and name while older stores will continue to use the 1980s signage.
Additionally, Yum! continues to use the abbreviated name freely in its advertising.

Contents
 [hide]

1 History

2 The secret recipe

3 Products

o 3.1 Packaging

o 3.2 Menu items

4 Advertising

5 International operations

o 5.1 Global locations

o 5.2 Gallery

o 5.3 Countries

6 Criticisms

o 6.1 Environmental

concerns

o 6.2 Trademark disputes

o 6.3 Wages and working

conditions
 o 6.4 Animal rights

7 See also

8 Notes

9 External links

History

The restaurant in North Corbin, Kentucky where Colonel Sanders developed Kentucky Fried Chicken

World's first KFC in South Salt Lake, Utah, since replaced by a new KFC on the same site

Born and raised in Henryville, Indiana, Sanders passed through several professions in his lifetime.[6] Sanders
first served his fried chicken in 1930 in the midst of the Great Depression at a gas station he owned in North
Corbin, Kentucky. The dining area was named "Sanders Court & Café" and was so successful that in
1936 Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon granted Sanders the title of honorary Kentucky Colonel in
recognition of his contribution to the state's cuisine. The following year Sanders expanded his restaurant to 142
seats, and added a motel he bought across the street.[7] When Sanders prepared his chicken in his original restaurant
in North Corbin, he prepared the chicken in an iron skillet, which took about 30 minutes to do, too long for a
restaurant operation. In 1939, Sanders altered the cooking process for his fried chicken to use a pressure fryer,
resulting in a greatly reduced cooking time comparable to that of deep frying.[8] In 1940 Sanders devised what
came to be known as hisOriginal Recipe.[9]

The Sanders Court & Café generally served travelers, often those headed to Florida, so when the route planned in
the 1950s for what would become Interstate 75 bypassed Corbin, he sold his properties and traveled the U.S. to
sell his chicken to restaurant owners. The first to take him up on the offer was Pete Harman in South Salt
Lake, Utah; together, they opened the first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" outlet in 1952.[10] By the early 1960s
Kentucky Fried Chicken was sold in over 600 franchised outlets in both the United States and Canada. One of the
longest-lived franchisees of the older Col. Sanders' chicken concept, as opposed to the KFC chain, was the Kenny
Kings chain. The company owned many Northern Ohio diner-style restaurants, the last of which closed in 2004.
Sanders sold the entire KFC franchising operation in 1964 for $2 millionUSD [11] Since that time, the chain has
been sold three more times, most recently to PepsiCo, which made it part of its Tricon
Global
Restaurants division, which in turn was spun off in 1997, and has now been renamed to Yum! Brands.
Additionally, Colonel Sanders' nephew, Lee Cummings, took his own Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises (and a
chicken recipe of his own) and converted them to his own "spin-off"restaurant chain, Lee's Famous Recipe
Chicken.

Today, some of the older KFC restaurants have become famous in their own right. One such restaurant is located
in Marietta, Georgia. This store is notable for a 56-foot (17 m) tall sign that looks like a chicken. The sign,
known locally as the Big Chicken, was built for an earlier fast-food restaurant on the site called Johnny Reb's
Chick, Chuck and Shake. It is often used as a travel reference point in the Atlanta area by locals and pilots.[12]

The secret recipe

The Colonel's secret flavor recipe of 11 herbs and spices that creates the famous "finger lickin' good" chicken
remains a trade secret.[13][14] Portions of the secret spice mix are made at different locations in the United States,
and the only complete, handwritten copy of the recipe is kept in a vault in corporate headquarters. [15] On September
9, 2008, the one complete copy was temporarily moved to an undisclosed location under extremely tight security
while KFC revamped the security at its headquarters. Before the move, KFC disclosed the following details about
the recipe and its security arrangements:[16]

 The recipe, which includes exact amounts of each component, is written in pencil on a single sheet of
notebook paper and signed by Sanders.
 The recipe was locked in a filing cabinet with two separate combination locks. The cabinet also included
vials of each of the 11 herbs and spices used.
 Only two executives had access to the recipe at any one time. KFC refuses to disclose the names and titles
of either executive.[17]
 One of the two executives said that no one had come close to guessing the contents of the secret recipe, and
added that the actual recipe would include some surprises.

On February 9, 2009, the secret recipe returned to KFC's Louisville headquarters in a more secure, computerized
vault.[18]

In 1983, writer William Poundstone examined the recipe in his book Big Secrets. He reviewed

Sanders' patent application, and advertised in college newspapers for present or former employees willing to share
their knowledge.[19] From the former he deduced that Sanders had diverged from other common fried-chicken
recipes by varying the amount of oil used with the amount of chicken being cooked, and starting the cooking at a
higher temperature (about 400°F, 200°C) for the first minute or so and then lowering it to 250°F (120°C) for the
remainder of the cooking time. Several of Poundstone's contacts also provided samples of the seasoning mix, and a
food lab found that it consisted solely of sugar, flour, salt, black pepper and monosodium
glutamate (MSG). He concluded that it was entirely possible that, in the years since Sanders sold the chain, later
owners had begun skimping on the recipe to save costs.[20][21][22] Following his buyout in 1964, Colonel Sanders
himself expressed anger at such changes, saying, "That friggin' ... outfit .... They prostituted every goddamn thing I
had. I had the greatest gravy in the world and those sons of bitches they dragged it out and extended it and wa tered
it down that I'm so goddamn mad."[21][22]

Ron Douglas, author of the book "America's Most Wanted Recipes," also claims to have figured out KFC's secret
recipe.[23]

Products
Packaging
The famous paper bucket that KFC uses for its larger sized orders of chicken and has come to signify the company
was originally created by Wendy's restaurants founder Dave Thomas. Thomas was originally a franchisee of the
original Kentucky Fried Chicken and operated several outlets in the Columbus, Ohio area. His reasoning behind
using the paper packaging was that it helped keep the chicken crispy by wicking away excess moisture. Thomas
was also responsible for the creation of the famous rotating bucket sign that came to be used at most KFC locations
in the US.[24]

Menu items
This is a list of menu items sold at KFC.

Chicken

KFC's Original Recipe fried chicken and French fries

 KFC's specialty is fried chicken served in various forms. KFC's primary product is pressure-fried pieces of
chicken made with the original recipe. The other chicken offering, extra crispy, is made using a garlic
marinade and double dipping the chicken in flour before deep frying in a standard industrial kitchen type
machine.
 Kentucky Grilled Chicken - This marinated grilled chicken is targeted towards health-conscious customers.
It features marinated breasts, thighs, drumsticks, and wings that are coated with the Original Recipe seasonings
 before being grilled. It has less fat, calories, and sodium than the Original Recipe fried chicken. [25] Introduced in
April 2009.
 KFC has two lines of sandwiches: its "regular" chicken sandwiches and its Snackers line. The regular
sandwiches are served on either asesame seed or corn dusted roll and are made from either whole breast
fillets (fried or roasted), chopped chicken in a sauce or fried chicken strips. The Snackers line are value priced
items that consist of chicken strips and various toppings. In the UK, Australia and New Zealand,
sandwiches are referred to as "burgers"; there is the chicken fillet burger (a chicken breast fillet coated in an
original-recipe coating with salad garnish and mayonnaise) and a Zinger Burger (as with the former but with a
spicier coating and salsa). Both of these are available as "tower" variants, which include a slice of cheese and a
hash brown.
 A variety of smaller finger food products are available at KFC including chicken strips, wings, nuggets
and popcorn chicken. These products can be ordered plain or with various sauces, including several types
of barbecue sauces and buffalo sauce. They also offer potato wedges.
 Several pies have been made available from KFC. The Pot Pie is a savory pie made with chicken, gravy
and vegetables. In the second quarter of 2006, KFC introduced its variation on Shepherd's pie called
the Famous Bowl. Served in a plastic bowl, it is layered with mashed potatoes or rice, gravy, corn, popcorn
chicken, and cheese, and is served with a biscuit. The bowl had been available at KFC's special test
market store in Louisville since the third quarter of 2005.
 The KFC Twister is a wrap that consists of either chicken strips or roasted chicken, tomato, lettuce and
(pepper) mayonnaise wrapped in a tortilla. In Europe, the Twister is sold in two varieties: 1) the Grilled
Twister (chicked strips),[26][27][28] and 2) the Grilled Mexican twister/Spicy Toasted Twister (UK) (chicken
breast supplemented by tortilla chips and salsa, UK: adds only salsa to pepper mayonnaise), [29][30][31]
 KFC Fillers are a 9" (22 cm) sub, available in four varieties over the summer period in Australia.
 Shish kebab - in several markets KFC sells kebabs.
Other products

Coleslaw
 In some international locations, KFC may sell hamburgers, pork ribs or fish. In the U.S., KFC began
offering the Fish Snacker sandwich during Lent in 2006. The Fish Snacker consists of a rectangular patty of
Alaskan Pollock on a small bun, and is the fifth KFC menu item in the Snacker category.[32]
 Three types of salads (which can be topped with roasted or fried chicken) are available at KFC: Caesar,
house, and BLT salads (in the US).
 The Boneless Banquet
 Zinger Burger – A regular sized burger which regularly consists of a boneless fillet of hot and spicy
chicken, lettuce and mayonnaise in a burger bun. Cheese, tomato, bacon and pineapple can be added upon
request. Barbecue sauce can also replace/join the mayonnaise.
 Chili Cheese Fries [33] - By 2007, 2 former KFC/A&W Restaurants locations in Berlin and Cologne,
Germany had reverted to KFC-only locations and the third location in Garbsen (by Hannover) was closed in
2005. The only remnant from the former A&W menu are the Chili Cheese Fries which were added to the
systemwide KFC Germany menu.
 Parfait desserts – "Little Bucket Parfaits" in varieties such as Fudge Brownie, Chocolate Crème (once
called the Colonel's Little Fudge Bucket), Lemon Crème and Strawberry Shortcake are available at most
locations in the US.[34]
 Sara Lee Desserts – Available in either Cookies and Cream Cheesecake or Choc Caramel Mousse.
Sides

 Other than fried chicken, many KFC restaurants serve side

dishes like coleslaw, various potato-based
items (including potato wedges, french fries and mashed potatoes withgravy), biscuits, baked
beans, macaroni and cheese, macaroni salad, rice, steamed vegetables and corn on the cob.
Discontinued products

 The Colonel's Rotisserie Gold – This product was introduced in the 1990s as a response to the Boston
Market chain's roasted chicken products, and a healthier mindset of the general public avoiding fried food.
Purportedly made from a "lost" Col. Sanders recipe, it was sold as a whole roaster or a half bird. [35]
 Tender Roast Chicken – This product was an off-shoot of 'The Colonel's Rotisserie Gold'. Instead of whole
and half birds, customers were given quarter roasted chicken pieces. For a time, customers could request
chicken "original", "Extra Tasty Crispy", or "Tender Roast".
 Chicken Little sandwich – a value oriented sandwich that sold for $0.39(USD)[36] in the U.S. during the
late 1980s and early 1990s. It was a small chicken patty with mayonnaise on a small roll, similar to White
Castle's mini chicken sandwich.[37]
 Extra Tasty Crispy (ETC) – Chicken much like the Extra Crispy served today, except ETC was prepared
using chicken that had been soaking for 15 minutes in a special marinade machine. There is some speculation
that the marinade may have been made with trans-fats, and KFC boasts to no longer use trans-fats in their
 chicken, the known ingredients were garlic and chicken stock. In the summer of 2007, KFC started marketing
the chicken just as "Extra Crispy" without the marinade.
 Kentucky Nuggets were a chicken nugget product available at KFC until 1996. No reason has been given
for their discontinuation.
 Smokey Chipotle – Introduced in April 2008. The chicken was dipped in chipotle sauce then doubled
breaded and fried. It has been discontinued since August 2008.
Nutritional value
KFC formerly used partially hydrogenated oil in its fried foods. This oil contains relatively high levels of trans fat,
which increases the risk of heart disease. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) filed a court
case against KFC, with the aim of making it use other types of oils or make sure customers know about trans fat
content immediately before they buy food.

In October 2006, KFC announced that it would begin frying its chicken in trans fat-free oil. This would also apply to
their potato wedges and other fried foods, however, the biscuits,macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes
would still contain trans fat. Trans fat-free soybean oil was introduced in all KFC restaurants in the U.S. by April
30, 2007. CSPI announced that it would immediately drop its lawsuit against KFC and was hopeful that this would
create a rippleeffect on other restaurants or fast food chains that prepare food rich in trans fat. "If KFC, which
deep-fries almost everything, can get the artificial trans fat out of its frying oil, anyone can," CSPI executive
director Michael Jacobson said in a statement.[38]
Advertising

KFC's logo used from 1997 until November 2006

Early television advertisements for KFC regularly featured Colonel Sanders licking his fingers and talking to
the viewer about his secret recipe. Despite his death in 1980 Sanders remains a key symbol of the company in its
advertising and branding.

Throughout the mid 1980s, KFC called on Will Vinton Studios to produce a series of
humorous, claymation ads. These most often featured a cartoon-like chicken illustrating the poor food quality of
competing food chains, mentioning prolonged freezing and other negative aspects. [39] TV ads also
featured Foghorn Leghorn advising Henery Hawk to visit the restaurant for better chicken.

In the 80s, KFC was an associate sponsor for Junior

Johnson's NASCAR Winston Cup Series cars, with
such drivers as Darrell Waltrip, Neil Bonnett, and Terry Labonte.

In 1997 KFC briefly re-entered the NASCAR Winston Cup Series as sponsor of the #26 Darrell Waltrip
Motorsports Chevrolet with driver Rich Bickle at the Brickyard 400.

A co-branded Long John Silversand KFC

By the late 1990s, the stylized likeness of Colonel Sanders as the KFC logo had been modified. KFC ads began
featuring an animated version of "the Colonel" voiced by Randy Quaid with a lively and enthusiastic attitude.
He would often start out saying "The Colonel here!" and moved across the screen with a cane in hand. The Colonel
was often shown dancing, singing, and knocking on the TV screen as he spoke to the viewer about the product. In
reference to these ads, William Shatner shouted "The Colonel is breakdancing! Give me a break!" in the song
"I Can't Get Behind That".

The animated Colonel is uncommon today. Still using a humorous slant, the current KFC campaign revolves mostly
around customers enjoying the food. It also features a modified version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home
Alabama" as the theme song for practically all its commercials, though the restaurant actually hails from
Kentucky.

In 2006, KFC claimed to have made the first logo visible from outer space, though Readymix has had one since
[40][41]
1965.  KFC says "[It] marked the official debut of a massive global re-image campaign that will contemporize
14,000-plus KFC restaurants in over 80 countries over the next few years." The logo was built from 65,000 one-
foot-square tiles, and it took six days on site to construct in early November. The logo was placed in the Mojave
Desert near Rachel, Nevada.[42] It is located in the northern section of Rachel, Nevada at  37.6460°N
115.7507°W .

Many KFC locations are co-located with one or more of Yum! Brands restaurants, Long John Silvers, Taco
Bell, Pizza Hut, or A&W Restaurants. Many of these locations behave like a single restaurant, offering a
single menu with food items from both restaurants.[43]
The resurrected Kentucky Fried Chicken logo

One of KFC's latest advertisements is a commercial advertising its "wicked crunch box meal". The commercial
features a fictional black metalband called "Hellvetica" performing live, the lead singer then swallows fire. The
commercial then shows the lead singer at a KFC eating the "wicked crunch box meal" and saying "Oh man that is
hot".

In 2007, the original, non-acronymic Kentucky Fried Chicken name was resurrected and began to reappear on
company marketing literature and food packaging, as well as some restaurant signage.

International operations
Global locations

Countries with KFC restaurants

Key:

Blue: Countries currently with KFC restaurants

  Andorra   El Salvador   Mexico

  Antigua and Barbuda   Egypt   Morocco
  Australia   Fiji   Namibia
  Austria   France   Netherlands
  Bahamas   Germany   Aruba
  Bahrain   Greece   Netherlands
  Bangladesh   Grenada   Cura
  Barbados   Guyana   Sint
  Botswana   Honduras   New Zealand
  Brazil   Hungary   Nicaragua
  Brunei   Iceland   Oman
  Bulgaria   India   Pakistan
  Cambodia   Indonesia   Panama
  Canada   Iran   Peru
[44]
  Chile   Iraq   Philippines
  People's Republic of China   Ireland   Poland
  Hong Kong   Israel   Portugal (Franchised b
  Macau   Jamaica Group)

  Colombia   Japan   Qatar

  Costa Rica   Jordan   Romania

  Cyprus   Kuwait   Russia

  Czech Republic   Lebanon   Saudi Arabia

  Denmark   Lithuania   Saint Kitts and Nev
  Dominica   Malaysia   Serbia

  Dominican Republic   Malta   Singapore

  Ecuador   Mauritius
Gallery
(Listed alphabetically by country)

KFC in Wagga Wagga, New

Gulshan, Dhaka,Bangladesh Hohhot, Inner
South Wales,Australia
Mongolia,China KFC at Hohe Straße 120–122 (former

Pizza Hut location), one of 3 KFC

locations in Cologne,Germany

co-located KFC and Domino's Kingston, Jamaica Keihan Moriguchi City station, Osaka,

KFC clone (BFC)
in Kolkata, India Japan
 in Shiraz,Iran

Kuwait City, Kuwait Singapore Angeles City, Philippines

Bangkok, Thailand

Countries
Canada
In Quebec, KFC was officially rebranded as PFK (Poulet Frit Kentucky) after the 1977 passage of the Charter
of the French Language, commonly known as Bill 101. The law had restricted the use of commercial signs
written in languages other than French. Parts of the legislation were overturned in 1988 but remained in effect until
1993, although the restaurants have continued to be known and marketed as PFK in the province.[45]

China
KFC is known as 肯德基 (pinyin: Kěn Dé Jī) in China.

In 1987, it opened its first store in Beijing, the capital of China. In 2007, it has over 1800 restaurants in 402 cities
in all provinces other than Tibet.[46] From 2000 to 2005, it was selected as the "Best chain store brand." [47]

France

The chain is known as KFC in France,[48] unlike Quebec.

Hong Kong

The first store in Hong Kong was opened in 1985. It was introduced to Hong Kong by Swire Marketing Limited and
subsequently taken over in 1997 by Birdland (Hong Kong) Limited—a franchisee of KFC's parent company, Yum!
Brands. It has 52 outlets in 2005, serving over three million customers every month, with more than 2,800 full-time
and part-time staff.[49]

The majority shareholder of Birdland (Hong Kong) Limited is the Navis Capital Partners Limited, a Malaysia based
company.[49]

Bangladesh
KFC opened its first outlet in Dhaka in 2006.[50] Currently KFC has only four outlets in the country and all of them
are in the capital Dhaka. Like its YUM counterpart Pizza Hut it too charges the highest in the subcontinent.
Transcom Foods is the local franchisee for KFC, Pizza Hut and Pepsi in the country. KFC is set to open three more
outlets this year two in Dhaka (Eskaton and Baily Road) and the other in the port city of Chittagong.
Germany

KFC restaurant in Munich at the "Euro-Industie-Park"

The first KFC locations opened in Germany in the 1960s thus making it one of the first European countries where
KFC established itself. Currently, there are 60 locations in Germany, with most located in major cities (mostly
Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg to name a few). Within the last 6 months, 4 new locations were
opened in Augsburg - (Derchinger Strasse), Berlin - (S-Bahnbogen Alexanderplatz),Bremen and Eschborn.
The Würselen restaurant reopened in late November after undergoing a major renovation.[51] The new Dortmund
location opened in April marking the end of a 3-year absence in that city. On May 13, 2008, KFC opened their
largest restaurant worldwide in Munich at the "Euro-Industie-Park".[52] Cologne's third location opened on April 2,
2009 in Cologne-Marsdorf. It is a standalone restaurant which includes a drive-thru lane.

India
In India, KFC has not established itself in any large way as opposed to another Yum! brand-name restaurant, Pizza
Hut, which is prevalent in most Indian cities. It has outlets in Chandigarh, Pune, New
Delhi,Lucknow, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai. The success of the Mumbai
restaurant led KFC to introduce the hot and spicy chicken flavor which is more acceptable to the Indian palate. More
recently, KFC has opened outlets in Vashi, Navi Mumbai.

A life-sized statue of Colonel Sanders (Ken Scott)[53] stands and greets customers outside a KFC inTokyo, Japan.
Japan
KFC is often referred to as ケンタッキー (kentakkii?) in Japanese.

KFC Japan was founded in 1970. A life size statue of the Colonel stands in front of most stores in Japan. Fried
chicken is an especially popular dish at Christmas time and on Christmas Eve many families, many of whom
have made reservations weeks in advance, have their traditional Christmas dinner of Kentucky Fried Chicken at
home.[54]

There is a popular urban legend, known as the Curse of the Colonel, which says that there is a curse on
the Hanshin Tigers baseball team due to fans throwing a statue in the likeness of Colonel Sanders into the
nearby Dōtonbori canal. The curse supposedly commands that the Tigers will not win a game until the statue is
recovered; however, on March 10, 2009, pieces of the statue were found.
Pakistan
KFC came to Pakistan in 1996 with the first branch opening in Karachi and later in Lahore. The Franchisee was
a Pakistani owned and operated, Dubai-based company the Cupola Group, which owns licenses and its own
restaurant throughout Pakistan and the middle-east. The company's creatives have been changed significantly over
the years to promote a Pakistani image rather than an American one, after the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq,
which resulted in loss of significant business.

Philippines
In the Philippines, the KFC name is turned into an acronym to stand for "Kapag Fried Chicken... mag-KFC" to
stand for "If fried chicken... have KFC".
Poland
First KFC restaurant in Poland was opened in 1993 in Warsaw. As of May 2008, KFC has 87 restaurants in
Poland operated by AmRest company. Many of those restaurants are drive-through. AmRest operates KFC also
in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, Bulgaria and Serbia.
Puerto Rico
KFC restaurants around the Island are colloquially referred to simply as Kentucky rather than being known as
either KFC or Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Rostiks-KFC logo
Russia and CIS

Rostik's-KFC is one of largest fast-food operators in Russia and CIS and is known under the Rostiks name.
Taiwan
KFC is the most popular Western fast-food chain in Taiwan[citation needed] . Local menu items include egg tarts,
and lotus root salad.
United Kingdom & Ireland
The first KFC outside of the United States and Canada was opened in Preston, England in 1965, becoming
the first American fast food chain to open in the UK. There are now over 750 locations across the UK and Ireland.
The franchise was initially run by an independent company known as KFC GB Ltd. until 1986,
when Pepsico purchased it as part of a joint venture with Trust House Forte. In 1997, when Tricon (now Yum!)
was spun off from Pepsico, it gained full ownership of the UK & Ireland operations. The UK & Ireland operation is
seen as KFC's European base and is often used to train franchisees from across Europe due to its great success and
restaurant quality.[55] KFC is currently undergoing a massive expansion in the UK which plans to add between 200
and 400 new restaurants in the next 5 years. In the last 5 years 200 restaurants were opened, making KFC the fastest-
growing fast food chain in the UK[56] and approaching the size of McDonald's which, with 1,150 restaurants, is
currently the largest fast food chain in the UK.

Criticisms
Environmental concerns
KFC has been accused of a large destruction of the Amazon Rainforest, because the supply of soy used for
chicken food KFC receives from Cargill has been traced back to theEuropean KFC. Cargill has reportedly been
exporting soy illegally for several years.[57] The Greenpeace organization researched the issue and brought it to
the attention of the parent company YUM! Brands, Inc. The parent company denied the illegal operation, and said
that their supply of soy is grown in parts of Brazil.[57] Greenpeace has called on KFC to stop purchasing soy from
Cargill, to avoid contributing to the destruction of the Amazon.[57][58]

Trademark disputes
In 1971, Sanders sued Heublein Inc., KFC's parent company at the time, over the alleged misuse of his image in
promoting products he had not helped develop. In 1975, Heublein Inc. unsuccessfully sued Sanders for libel after he
publicly referred to their gravy as "sludge" with a "wallpaper taste".[59]

In May 2007 KFC (Great Britain) requested that Tan Hill Inn, in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, UK
refrain from using the term 'Family Feast' to describe its Christmas menu,[60] although this problem was quickly
resolved with the pub being allowed to continue use of the term.[61]

Wages and working conditions

Balmoral KFC workers and allies picketing the store

Like many fast food outlets, KFC employs a high proportion of young, unskilled workers, at or just
above minimum wage, and its workers are not unionized. In New Zealand, KFC youth workers
earn NZ$10.13 an hour. Staff at the Balmoral, Auckland store went on strike for two hours on December 3,
2005 after Restaurant Brands, the franchise holder, offered no wage increase in contract negotiations.[62] In
March 2006, Restaurant Brands agreed to phase out youth rates in New Zealand, although no date was set.

Many stores in western Canada are unionized with the Canadian Auto Workers, and as a result many non-
franchise stores in western Canada pay higher than minimum wage.

Animal rights

Protesters demonstrating outside a KFC restaurant in Royal Oak, Michigan

Since 2003, animal rights and welfare organizations, led by People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA), have been protesting KFC’s treatment of the animals used for its products. These groups claim
that the recommendations of the KFC Animal Welfare Advisory Council have been ignored.[63] Adele Douglass, a
former member of the council, said in an SEC filing reported on by the Chicago Times, that KFC "never had any
meetings. They never asked any advice, and then they touted to the press that they had this animal-welfare advisory
committee. I felt like I was being used."[64][65]

KFC responded by saying the chickens used in its products are bought from suppliers like Perdue Farms, Tyson
Foods, and Pilgrim's Pride, and that these suppliers are routinely monitored for animal welfare violations.
[66]
 Several PETA undercover investigations and videos of these and other KFC suppliers purport to show chickens
being beaten, ripped apart, and thrown against walls contradict KFC’s claims.[67] PETA has criticised some of the
practices of chicken breeders, such as beak trimming and overcrowding, but KFC says its suppliers meets UK legal
requirements. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs recommends a maximum stocking density
of 34 kg—around 30 chickens—per square metre, and say that in circumstances where beak trimming needs to be
carried out to prevent the birds injuring each other, only one third of the beak should be trimmed "measured from
the tip towards the entrance of the nostrils".[68] PETA states that they have held more than 12,000 demonstrations at
KFC outlets since 2003 because of this alleged mistreatment of chickens by KFC suppliers. [69]

In June 2008, KFC Canada agreed to PETA's demands for better welfare standards, including favoring suppliers
who use controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK) of chickens, and other welfare standards as well as introducing
a vegan sandwich at 65% of its outlets. PETA has called off its campaign against KFC Canada, but continues to
demonstrate against KFC elsewhere in the world.[70]
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