Leon Weston "Pete" Harman (January 16, 1919 – November 19, 2014) was an American businessman best known for having struck a deal with Colonel Harland Sanders to open the first

KFC KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's se ...

franchise. Located in Salt Lake County,

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, Harman's location opened for business in August 1952.

Early life

Harman was born in 1919 in Granger, now a part of West Valley City, a suburb of

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

to David Reese Harman (1874–1924) and Grace May Hemenway (1879–1919). Harman was the youngest of 14 children in a

Latter-day Saint The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded b ...

family. Harman's mother died two days after he was born, and his father later married Caroline Hemenway Harman, the widow of Pete's uncle. Harman was a major donor to the construction of the Caroline Hemenway Harman Continuing Education Building at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

, named after his step-mother. Harman and his wife, Arline, opened their first restaurant, The Do Drop Inn, with two employees in 1941. They had met in the 1930s while both employees at the same restaurant in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, and married in 1938.

Career

Harman worked with Colonel Sanders to develop and prepare the KFC system for franchising, working to develop training manuals and product guides. His other claims to fame are the development of the bucket packaging and the emphasis on the "Finger-lickin' good" motto. In 1990 the International Foodservice Manufacturer Association recognized Harman's achievements with its Gold Plate Award. At the time of the award the Harman Management Corp. of

Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Most of the city's growth ...

, employed over 4,000 people and operated 238 KFC stores in four states. Credit for his success was given to his enlightened practices towards his staff including stock purchase schemes. His original KFC building was demolished in 2004 to make way for a museum and an updated restaurant. Harman relocated to Los Altos, California as the scope of his business expanded in the 1960s. He lived there until his death on November 19, 2014, at 95 years old.

References

External links

''Deseret News''
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Keegan, Peter O.; "IFMA gold-plates 'Pete' Harman - International Foodservice Manufacturer Association"; ''Nation's Restaurant News''
June 4, 1990 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harman, Pete 1919 births 2014 deaths American restaurateurs Fast-food chain founders Latter Day Saints from Utah KFC people 20th-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from Utah People from West Valley City, Utah