KFC mogul Colonel Sanders is as famous for his iconic white suits as for his chicken.
On November 17, one of those suits crossed the block at Julien’s Auctions – where it achieved an impressive $12,800.
The Colonel had exacting standards of dress, and chicken
The colonel started his multi-billion dollar empire at a gas station in North Corbin, Kentucky in the early 1930s.
One of the reasons for his success (that you certainly won’t read about on KFC’s website) was a shootout with a rival restaurateur, a man named Matt Stewart, over a road sign.
A Shell Oil Official was killed while the two were exchanging fire. The bullet was Stewart’s, and so he was shipped off to prison - leaving Sanders free to expand.
The first KFC franchise opened in South Salt Lake, Utah in 1952. There are now close to 19,000 outlets worldwide.
This was one of the last suits Sanders had made.
It was tailored by Merton Chester of Toronto in 1980. Sanders died in December that year. While he made his start in Kentucky, he spent most of his later years in Canada.
However, he still travelled regularly to quality check the restaurants that bore his image. Any meal that failed to meet his exacting standards would be unceremoniously dumped on the floor in front of the terrified manager.
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