Born and raised in Henryville, Indiana, Sanders passed through several professions in his lifetime. 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 & Cafe" 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. 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.
In 1940 Sanders devised what came to be known as his Original Recipe.The Sanders Court ; Cafe 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. Sanders entered into franchise agreements paying him five cents for each piece of chicken sold. 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.
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 million USD. 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. From a single outlet in 1952 KFC has presence in over 100 countries today with more than million outlets and a turnover of $520. 3 million providing employment to 24,000 people. Really an outstanding achievement which was made possible by sheer determination and commitment of Great Sanders. Isn't it?Walt Disney’s Success Story Success begins with a Dream “When you wish upon a star…” begins the song used as a theme for Disney television programs, and, perhaps, a theme for the entire Disney operation. Walt Disney was a man of dreams.
He dreamed big dreams. And he made his dreams come true. Walt Disney would agree, and is himself ample proof, that dreams can come true. His example reveals that making dreams come true takes more than just wishing. In Walt’s case, the “star” was Mickey Mouse, and combined with a lot of vision, planning, and hard work, Walt made dream after dream come true.Most people think of Walt Disney as an animator, the “inventor” of Mickey Mouse.
He is more accurately thought of as an entertainer, not in the sense that he wanted to be the center of attention, but that he wanted to create something that would excite an audience and make them laugh. Walt had talent, and developed a keen commercial sense of what would appeal to the public. This combination enabled him to parlay $40 and a few drawing tools into a film studio producing popular cartoons, feature length animated features, and live action movies.Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and ultimately the other Disney theme parks around the world all came about because Walt Disney insisted that he could build an amusement park that was so much bigger and better than other amusement parks that it shouldn’t even be called an amusement park.
How did this dream come about? As a child in Kansas City, Walt watched through the fence at Fairmont Park, wanting to participate, but not having enough money to enter. A parent in the 1930’s, Walt would take his children to amusement parks. But he was not amused, convinced he could do much better.By 1937, at the premiere of Snow White, Walt told Wilfred Jackson that someday he would “make a park for kids, a place scaled down to kid size. ” In 1940 he revealed a plan to showcase Disney characters in their fantasy surroundings at a park across the street from the Disney studio in Burbank. The vision of an amusement park grew in Walt’s mind as he traveled through the US and Europe and visited attractions of all kinds.
He visited county fairs, state fairs, circuses, carnivals, and parks. He was distressed at operations where things were run down and ride operators were hostile.And he loved the spotless Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, with bright, upbeat music, excellent food and drink, and warm, friendly employees. Walt was convinced that an amusement park would be successful in the United States if it offered a “good show” that families could enjoy together, was clean, and had friendly employees. In 1948 he shared his concept with trusted friends, a modest amusement park with a central village including a town hall, a small park, railroad station movie theater, and small stores.
Outlying areas would include a carnival area and a western village.Soon he added spaceship and submarine rides, a steamboat, and exhibit halls. Four years later, in 1952, he decided on “Disneyland” for the name and formed a company to develop the park, Disneyland, Inc. Walt’s brother Roy, the studio’s financial head, was against investing in Disneyland. Bankers and amusement industry experts forecast doom.
That’s why Walt stepped outside the studio organization to develop the idea. Eventually Roy agreed to help, and the Disney studio became part of the operation. In 1953 Walt brilliantly strategized combining television production with development of the park.The Disneyland television program on ABC had a dual benefit. It promoted the new park through a weekly program, and it became part of a deal where the network invested half a million dollars plus substantial loan guarantees in return for a 35% ownership in Disneyland Park.
That same year he enlisted Stanford Research Institute to examine the economic prospects of Disneyland (it was deemed profitable) and to find the ideal location (Anaheim). They broke ground in July, 1954, and one year later, on July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened.Within 7 weeks, a million visitors had visited Disneyland, making it one of the biggest tourist attractions in the US. Attendance was 50 per cent ahead of predictions and guests were spending 30 per cent more than expected.
Walt combined his talent and his sense of what the public would want with lots of hard work. Today we might call him a “workaholic. ” His work was driven, not by guilt or insecurity, but by a dream. As he told an interviewer in 1955: “Everybody can make their dreams come true.
It takes a dream… faith in it… and hard work. But that’s not quite true because it’s so much fun you hardly realize it’s work.At a dinner party at Herb Ryman’s house in 1960, someone commented that Walt could be elected president if he wanted it. His response? “Why would I want to be President of the United States? I’m the King of Disneyland! ” In 1960, after 37 years in Hollywood, with a mixture of huge successes and frustrating setbacks, Disney had created something that was successful beyond Walt’s own dreams.
With Disneyland and its continuing stream of visitors, Walt had finally achieved financial stability. Henry Sy Success Story “Success is not just good luck.It is a combination of hard work, good credit standing, opportunity, readiness, and timing. ” – Henry Sy Sr. Henry Sy, known as the “Father of Philippine Retail” and the #1 Philippines’ richest man, was born October 25, 1924 in the village of Ankhue, in the Jinjiang county (now city) of Fujian province, south China.
We will look into the business success story of a Filipino entrepreneur, Henry Sy, in this article by Wilson Lee Flores, entrepreneur magazine. Chinese immigrant Henry Sy survived the loss of his father’s two sari- sari stores at the close of World War II eventually install to himself as Asia’s shopping mall king.He survived other crises as well: the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ declaration of martial law (1972), the chaos following opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr’s assassination (1983), the military coups against the Aquino administration (1987- 89), and the Asian financial crisis (starting 1997). “I don’t give up easily,” Sy, 85, says, “I look for solutions to problems. I want to make things happen.
” And happen they did. In its March 17, 2003 issue, the US business magazine Forbes listed Henry Sy among the world’s billionaires, with an estimated net worth of $1. billion and exceeding the fortunes of France’s Michellin, clan of tire makers; Citigroup boss Sanford Weill; publishing tycoon William Hearst III; Richard Marriott of the world- famous hotel chain; and television host Oprah Winfrey. In 1999, the Management Association of the Philippines named Henry Sy as “Management Man of the Year. ” In 2005, the Philippine Retail Association conferred him the title, “Father of Philippine Retail,” and the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation honored him as one of four Business Greats. Sy’s success has only increase his fame and clout.
In 2002 he astounded most analysts when he tapped Asia’s wealthiest billionaire, Hong Kong’s Li Ka-Shing, to invest in the Philippines through a joint venture between the SM group and Li’s Watson retail chain. Mall of Asia His retail and other businesses aside, Sy is the power behind Banco de Oro Universal Bank and the 85-year old China Banking Corp. , which his group took over in early 2005. He became a major force in promoting Philippine tourism after taking control of Tagaytay Highlands, a prime property and one of the projects Highlands prime Inc. the real estate arm of publicly- listed Belle Resources), where Sy and sons Henry Jr. and Hans sit as board members.
Tagaytay Highlands is a strategic complement to similar projects in Baguio and Cebu, and that gave the Philippines “a world- class resort community. ” When “Mall of Asia,” his dream project, is completed in the Manila Bay reclamation area, it will sit on 90 hectares and is envisioned to be the premiere destination mall in the Asia Pacific region. Indeed it is in the mall business that Sy has eminently distinguished himself.Sy’s SM Group of Companies, one of the Philippines’ biggest conglomerates, started as a shoe-retailing store on Carriedo Street in Quiapo, Manila.
(The holding firm for the group, SM Investments Corp. , was incorporated in 1960. SMIC became public in early 2005, raising nearly P25 billion in new money that many believed the Sy family will use to expand its portfolio investments and acquisitions). In 2001, the London- based Euromoney magazine named Sy’s retail chain as Best Retailer in Asia. Shoemart Inc.
, the Philippines’ largest chain of department stores, is an anchor tenant in all SM malls.Supervalue Inc handles the group’s supermarket businesses, including the Warehouse Clubs. The group’s retail chain include Star Appliance Center as well as stores dealing in hardware products, appliances, toys, home and lifestyle products, health and beauty products, export- overrun clothes and fashion accessories. SM also operates the Philippine’s largest chain of cinemas. Its Makro retail chain is a partnership with the Ayala Group of companies, another Philippine giant. Group Leader Henry Sy was born in the village of Ankhue, in the Jinjiang county (now city), of Fujian province, south of China.
In 1936, when he was 12, he and his father migrated to Manila and here learned the basics of retailing and good customer service in his father’s sari-sari store. (One of his fondest memories of the pre- war era was joining a crowd of onlookers at the inauguration of Quezon Bridge in Quiapo, Manila, with the guest of honor, the flamboyant President Manuel L. Quezon, wearing his famous safari hat. The boy never imagined that he would get to meet and know all Philippine Presidents in the course of his business career).
Desperate to study and learn English, Sy asked permission from his father to go back to school.He was already 12, but he had to start from grade one when he enrolled at the Quiapo Anglo- Chinese High School, where his classmates were younger and smaller. On reaching grade 4, Sy asked his teacher if he could be accelerated, and his teacher agreed provided he attained a minimum grade average of 90 percent. He eventually completed grad school in five years.
“I used second- hand books and bought only a few pieces of pad paper at a time,” Sy says. “I did not want to ask more money from my father, who was working so hard. I was happy enough to be studying.I was not first in academics, but I was the group leader. ” Near the end of the war, one of the elders Sy’s stores was burned down and the other looted in the chaos. “We lost everything,” Sy says.
“My father decided to go back to China and asked me to join him, but it was my opportunity to start a business; I decided to stay behind. My father was pained by the hardships, but I never lost hope. ” After the war, goods were in desperate supply, so the young Henry joined the booming buy-and-sell business and saved enough money for future ventures.He returned to school in the early 1950s, enrolling at the Far Eastern University in Manila, in hopes of securing a degree in commerce. He lasted only two years as a result of pressure from his growing business. More than 40 years later, on January 30, 1999, De La Salle University conferred on him an honorary doctorate in business management.
It was a toast to half a century of brilliant entrepreneurship. It has become a cliche, but success came to Sy only as a result of hard work, tenacity, frugality, self- discipline, Confucian values, and an undying thirst of learning.
