The world's first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants was here in SLC.

by Contributor

The History
You might be familiar with the colonel's Kentucky Fried Chicken, but did you know that the world's very first restaurant featuring his "secret recipe" is right here in Salt Lake City? Harman's KFC, located on 3890 S. State, was opened in 1952 by Pete and Arline Harman with a "borrowed pressure cooker, four chickens [and] 11 herbs and spices."

According to KFC literature, Pete met the colonel for the first time while taking a restaurant course in Chicago during the summer of 1951. When the colonel made it out to Utah the following summer, he whipped up a batch of his famous chicken for the Harmans. They were so impressed that the colonel showed them how it was done and soon Harman's Cafe started preparing the dish. It met with such success that the cafe became the first KFC franchise. The rest is history.