Jacob Pucci|The Fayetteville Observer
The story of how Kentucky Fried Chicken first came to North Carolina six decades ago started with a 2-inch ad in a restaurant trade publication, a drive from Fayetteville to Lynchburg, Virginiato try the chicken, and a two-week stay at Colonel HarlandSanders' home in suburban Lousiville to learn (almost) all the secrets.
About two months after Steve Paris returned from Kentucky, construction began at the Hillcrest Drive-In on Bragg Boulevard in Fayetteville, which was owned by Paris, his uncle, Nick Fasul, and his cousin, Dena Fasul Potter.
The Hillcrest opened on Aug. 2, 1961. Sixty years and countless fried chicken dinners later, they're still going strong.
From Lyrkeia to Fayetteville
Paris' route to Fayetteville is even more remarkable, he said recently. Born Stylianos Perivolaris, Paris came to the United States from Greecein 1956 under a special provision for refugees fleeing communism. Paris said an uncle fought against communist forces during the Greek Civil War, prompting threats of capture and death against his family. He remembers hiding in the olive fields of Lyrkeia, the village outside the city of Argos where Paris grew up, to avoid detection.
Paris came to the United States when he was 19. Sponsored by Fasul, who came to Fayetteville as a 23-year-old in 1918, Paris got off a boat in New York, went to Grand Central Station and boarded a train bound for Fayetteville.
Paris still has the suitcase he brought over from Greece, as well as the note, which said he was going to Fayetteville and knew little English, that he'd hold up when an attendant came by to ask where he was going.
The day after he arrived in Fayetteville, Paris began working at the Milk Bar, the city's first drive-in restaurant, located on Bragg Boulevard, diagonal from where the Hillcrest/KFC would open a few years later.Paris graduated from high school in Greece, but attended English and U.S. History classes at Fayetteville Senior High School (now Terry Sanford High School) from 8 to 11 a.m.before walking to the Milk Bar to start work at noon.
After finishing high school, Paris went to Worth Business College. He applied, got accepted and paid the $300 tuition for the semester, but told the school that he wouldn't enroll just yet, but would return when he learned enough English.
In 1959, facing a military draft, Paris enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve and was sent to Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, for basic training. He served in the reserves for five years.
A fateful discovery
One day, in early 1961, Nick Fasul was browsing a copy of Restaurant South magazine when he came across an advertisem*nt. It read"Something new, something different, Kentucky Fried Chicken."
KFC was young at the time, but growing, with about 200 locations nationwide. The two responded to Sanders' advertisem*nt and said they wanted to be the first to serve his chicken in North Carolina.
Sanders directed them to head up to Lynchburg, where a Lendy's Drive-In restaurant serving Kentucky Fried Chicken had just opened. They each grabbed a seat at the counter and ordered a two-piece meal. Paris said it was delicious.
He asked a worker there how well the chicken was selling. The employee was pleased to say that they sold 12 whole chickens a day.
When they got back to Fayetteville, they called Sanders again and told him they were ready to do business. So Paris hopped back in the car and drove to Shelbyville, Kentucky, home of Colonel Sanders.
Training under the Colonel
Paris remembersSanders' big colonial home, the three-bay garage behind the house that served as his office and the white Cadillac with the Kentucky Fried Chicken insignia emblazoned on the side.
Paris was 23 at the time and while he was getting better at English, was still far from proficient. The Colonel took him under his wing, called the motel where Paris planned to stay, canceled his reservations and told Parishe'd stay with him for the next two weeks.
Paris woke up at 6 a.m. each day, ate breakfast and drove down to a store in Louisville that Sanders used as a training store. Paris trained under Sanders, Ken Coomer, a U.S. Marine veteran whom Paris described as "tough as nails," and Carl Mies, who later had a hand in developing the pressure fryers that soon became ubiquitous in KFC kitchens.
Paris remembered Sanders as exacting and passionate about the quality of his product— and made sure his franchisees were, too. One morning, Paris and other trainees were in the kitchen at the Louisville store mixing eggs and milk together for the chicken breading process. Sanders instructed them to break the eggs into a bowl, mix them and then slowly add milk and mix until hom*ogenous.
Another trainee wasn't mixing them the right way.
"Look at him!" Paris remembers Sanders yelling. "Look at that [SOB]!"
The Colonel then whacked the other trainee with a cane and kicked him out.
After two weeks, armed with the skills to make the Colonel's chicken— except for the secret of the 11 herbs and spices— Paris returned to Fayetteville.
Construction of the Hillcrest began in April, and it opened in August. An Aug. 20 Fayetteville Observer story said the new restaurant joined 500 other drive-ins in the U.S. and Canada serving more than two million fried chicken meals per day.
At the time, Kentucky Fried Chicken was a menu offering, rather than an entire restaurant, meaning that when the Hillcrest opened, the Colonel's chicken shared a menu with hamburgers, pork barbecue sandwiches, fried oysters, steak, broiled chicken livers and the like.
Paris said he had no idea what KFC would become— he was simply looking for another item to serve at his drive-in.
"The fact that the store is there now after 60 years in the same spot is a testament that we made the right decision," he said.
When the restaurant opened, they would serve a piece of chicken alongside a burger or hot dog as a way to promote the fried chicken. But it didn't take long for the chicken to catch on.
The bird is the word
In the summer of 1962, Paris traveled to Chicago, where Sanders pitched franchise owners on a giant illuminated bucket sign, an invention credited to Dave Thomas, who worked for Sanders until leaving to start Wendy's in 1969.
The bucket was still a prototype, but Paris was sold. He paid $1,500 for the sign (nearly $13,500) today and installed it at the Hillcrest. It was one of the first 10 giant buckets of its kind.
The investment immediately paid off. Sales doubled within the first month of installing the bucket.
By the mid-1960s, they were selling thousands of chickens a day. As part of the franchise agreement, they paid Sanders a nickel for each whole chicken sold. As the chicken grew more popular, they dialed back the Hillcrest's menu.
Ralph M. Potter joined the business in 1967 and the company becameParis & Potter. Potter, a lawyer who served as atrial attorney for the StateAttorney General's Office and as an assistant district attorney in both Raleigh and Fayetteville, handled the money. Paris, a licensed general contractor, handled the real estate and construction.
They opened a second restaurant on Raeford Road in 1968 and not long after, expanded toSpring Lake, Clinton, Dunn, Hope Mills and other spots.
Around 1971, when the initial franchise agreement expired and had to be renewed, the Hillcrest became a Kentucky Fried Chicken.
What the restaurant is today
The original restaurant is long gone— it was torn down in 1989— but the Kentucky Fried Chicken at 1207 Bragg Blvd. has always remained.
Paris & Potter now operates 27 KFC locations in North and South Carolina, as well as six Cici's Pizza restaurants. It remains a family-run business to this day, with many children and grandchildren of the founders involved in management.Fasul's two daughters, Anna Fasul Finch and Katherine Fasul, have worked in the company's management since its inception. Nick Potter, Fasul's grandson and Potter's son, currently serves as chief operating officer.
To commemorate the anniversary, all KFC restaurants in Cumberland County will serve a thigh, leg and biscuit meal for 99 cents on Aug. 2, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
How has Paris been doing it all these years? A mindset that customers come first and that it's the customers doing him a favor by dining in his restaurants, not the inverse.
"We are employed by the customers," he said.
Jacob Pucci writes on food, restaurants and business. Contact him by email atjpucci@gannett.comor follow him on Twitter at@jacobpuccior onFacebook. Like talking food? Join ourFayetteville FoodiesFacebook group.
Support local journalism with a subscription to The Fayetteville Observer. Click the "subscribe'' link at the top of this article.
