Growing up in Indiana, household responsibilities were often left to him while his mother worked to support the family after his father's early death. This is how he developed his keen cooking skills as he helped his mother take care of the other children in his family.

Several different jobs later, Sanders began his entrepreneurial career running a service station in Kentucky while serving his special chicken in a dining area within. As the business grew, he relocated to a restaurant close by in order to make his original recipe with its blend of eleven herbs and spices accessible to even more customers. He also added a motel to the business.
In 1935, at forty-five years old, Sanders was dubbed a Kentucky Colonel by the Governor, in recognition of his fabulous cooking skills. Subsequently, in 1940 Sanders created his well-known "Original Recipe."

Sanders originally prepared his chicken in an iron skillet but soon realized that was not efficient in a restaurant setting. In order to decrease the wait time for his customers, Sanders modified his cooking procedure by making use of a pressure fryer.

The Sanders Court & Café catered mainly to travelers on their way to Florida through the town of Corbin, Kentucky. However, in the early 1950's, a new interstate was in the works that would cause a great loss in business, forcing Sanders to retire and sell his restaurant.
However, the government check was small, and Sanders wasn't willing to just sit still and try to make due. He believed there was an opportunity to market his chicken to restaurant owners across the U.S.

He got rejections after rejections, but did not give up. In fact, he got over 1000 rejections.

He got 1009 no’s before he got his first yes. With that one success Colonel Hartland Sanders changed the eating habits of the whole world with Kentucky Fried Chicken, popularly known as KFC.