Quote:
Originally Posted by jydk
My old man always referes to KFC as Barnys. I have actually heard other people refer to it as Barnys as well. (all old timers) Not sure why, or if it falls under the category of this thread but I'm posting anyways.
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Way back in the early days of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Col. Sanders actually drove around North America with his pressure cooker in the back of his car and went to local restaurant owners hoping to sign them up as franchisees.
Often, the owners already had an established restaurant in the city with its own established name and reputation, so when they signed on as KFC owners, they'd attach their own name to the KFC restaurant in order to reinforce the local brand.
Pepsi purchased KFC in the late 80s or early 90s and started to rebrand the company and more strictly enforce a standard branding and menu.
The Calgary KFC franchise owner was known as "Barney's", and so, up until sometime in the 90s, all of the KFC advertising in Calgary was for "Barney's Kentucky Fried Chicken" (they also used to have hamburgers and other non-chicken items on their menu).
I don't know if it's still the case, but when I lived in Lethbridge 10 years ago, they were still called Sven Eriksson's KFC, (there was also a restaurant named Sven Eriksson's, which was one of the nicer restaurants in Lethbridge). One of the KFCs even had a full bakery inside.
Anyone under the age of 25, or anyone who didn't grow up in Calgary would have no idea why "Barney's" = "KFC".