Quoting Dave Drum to Jim Weller <=-
Thought you guys already had a Kentucky Fried Colonel.
We did, But it is no more.
It was the very first fast food chain to enter the Yellowknife
market back in 1968 when we were just a little mining town. Jarvis
Jason was already running a popular burger joint called Lenny
Burger, named after his son Len, when he bought the franchise. He
built the new restaurant on three vacant lots right beside Lenny's.
(The original Lenny Burger was several other things after that and
is currently my Coldwell Banker office. Our second floor is Jarvis's
old apartment, remodelled.)
After some wrangling, he did a handshake deal with Colonel Harlan
Sanders himself whereby he could continue serving burgers. It was
the only branch in North America allowed to do that. But when KFC
started promoting chicken sandwiches like the Big Crunch and the
Zinger the bean counters at Yum! got upset with the Jason family and
told them to stop. By this time the business had been handed down
from Jarvis to Len who subsequently died in a car crash, so the
ownership was with the DIL Gabi.
They did some other things that were unique to Yellowknife. KFC is
VERY popular in the small remote northern communities and Len used
to fly out insulated stainless steel lined styrofoam containers that
held 200 pieces of hot chicken to weddings, community events and
other gatherings. Mining companies seeking approval for water and
land use permits knew that their community based PR conferences were
much better attended if KFC catered the luncheon. One of the diamond
mine mess halls 300 km away used to order in 1500 pieces for lunch
every second Wednesday and chartered a plane to have it delivered.
The company wanted to shut down the practise due to health and
quality control concerns as the chicken would be luke warm with
soggy crusts by the time it arrived. (The Jasons did not have a
single food poisoning incident in 47 years.)
The outlet did 4 times the national average in unit sales and
therefore paid out 4 times as much in royalties and was always in
the national top ten, usually #1, in sales year after year.
When Yum! realized they weren't following corporate policy to the
letter they insisted that (a) they update the premises and
redecorate every ten years (they had skipped two cycles) and (b)
find a new larger location so that they could have a drive-thru.
Gabi Jason pointed out that they already had a 100% market share and
no competition, that the kitchen was running at full capacity and
that those two costly items would not increase revenues a single
dime but her concerns were ignored and they pulled her franchise on
her.
Gabi's kids had a vision for using the premises as an upscale burger
restaurant with a liquor licence, named Lenny Burger, of course.
And as they still had broasters they could continue making fried
chicken, just with a different coating recipe. It opened late after
a costly makeover and never took off. Partly because the kids
already had businesses of their own to run. Gabi was tired, after
several decades in the business, and the hired manager turned out to
be lame. Gabi folded it after a year and my company and I helped her
sell the real estate. It is now a bar known as Harley's Hard Rock
Saloon.
Kind of sad and very short sighted of Yum! Brands. They killed a
company legend. The new company with the new location will be
shelling out at least four times as much in land acquisition and
construction costs as what the old building was worth and almost 40
times what Jason spent (in 1968 dollars, not factoring in
inflation).
(Some small town gossip: the KFC grandson and the McDonald's daughter
are now a couple.)
Cheers
Jim
... It is not just some fast food chain; it's part of our culture.
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