Leon W. 'Pete' Harman: the operational father of KFC has many goals - and retiring isn't one of them.(Pioneer of the Year: 1996)
Innovator and seat-of-the-pants marketing expert are just two of the titles that could be claimed by Leon W. "Pete" Harman after a 60-year career in foodservice that included a pivotal role in building the world's largest chicken-restaurant chain: KFC.
Harman and his wife, Arline, became Col. Harland Sanders' first franchisees 44 years ago when they began serving "the colonel's recipe" fried chicken out of their Harman's Cafe in Salt Lake City. Apart from being Sanders' first paying customer. Harman became the white-haired entrepreneur's operations guru and confidant.
The two men met in Chicago in 1951 during the National Restaurant Association show. Harman said, and the following year Sanders stopped by Salt Lake City on his way to California. Sanders wanted to see firsthand how Harman was able to generate $ 1,000 in sales on Saturdays by peddling 30-cent hamburgers.
It was during that 1952 visit that Sanders cooked his chicken for the Harmans, who soon struck up a business deal to add it to their menu. The extent of Sanders' trust in Harman is best illustrated by the aging chicken master's actions before the sale of his company in the 1960s to two young businessmen: Jack Massey and lawyer John Y. Brown, who later became governor of Kentucky.
Before the Colonel would sell, he wanted to get Pete's approval, so we got on a plane to visit him," recalls Brown, who in recent yeas has been involved in the start-up of Kenny Roger's Roasters, Miami Subs and Roadhouse Grill.
Brown says Sanders "had his own business instincts, but this was a big move and he trusted Pete's judgment and felt he had credibility." He remembers that Harman seemed a bit surprised by the pro posed sale but signed off on it a few days later.
Later Harman sat on the board of the Brown-Massey-owned company, where he served as the "ramrod" for a close relationship between franchisor and franchisee, Brown says. …
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