Claudia Sanders Dinner House (formerly Claudia Sanders, The Colonel's Lady Dinner House) is a restaurant in

Shelbyville, Kentucky Shelbyville is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city in and the county seat of Shelby County, Kentucky, Shelby County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 17,282 at the 2020 census. History Early history The town of Shelbyville ...

, United States, opened by

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 ...

founder

Colonel Sanders Harland David Sanders (September 9, 1890 December 16, 1980) was an American businessman and founder of fast food chicken restaurant chain KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken (now known as KFC). He later acted as the company's brand ambassador and sym ...

and his wife, Claudia, in 1968. Colonel Sanders opened the restaurant after he had grown unhappy with recipe changes at KFC after selling the company. The restaurant was subject to a lawsuit by the owners of KFC as it was promoted by Sanders, who was also the face of KFC.

History

The Dinner House is next to the house which the Sanders family lived in between 1959 and 1984, and became the first headquarters of Kentucky Fried Chicken. In 1964, Sanders sold Kentucky Fried Chicken, and he later grew unhappy with the recipes that the franchise was using. In 1968, Colonel Sanders and his wife, Claudia, started the restaurant, originally named "Claudia Sanders, The Colonel's Lady Dinner House". After Kentucky Fried Chicken was bought by

Heublein Heublein Inc. (also known as Heublein Spirits) was an American producer and distributor of alcoholic beverages and food throughout the 20th century. During the 1960s and 1970s its stock was regarded as one of the most stable financial investments ...

in 1971, Heublein was unhappy that Sanders was using his image for the competing restaurant (Sanders was a large face of Kentucky Fried Chicken). Heublein sued Sanders for this, and Sanders countersued the company for $122 million in 1974, claiming that Heublein was unlawfully using the Sanders face for products that he did not develop. Heublein settled out of court with a $1 million payment to Sanders, and the restaurant changed its name to Claudia Sanders Dinner House. After Colonel Sanders died in 1980, Claudia Sanders sold the restaurant. In 1999, the restaurant burned down in four hours. It was later rebuilt. The restaurant was listed for sale in 2022 with an initial asking price of $9 million, which was later reduced to $4.9 million the following year.

Operations

Claudia Sanders Dinner House serves over 100,000 customers per year.

References

{{coords, 38.2160, -85.2786, region:US-KY_type:landmark, display=title, name=Claudia Sanders Dinner House Restaurants in Kentucky KFC Buildings and structures in Shelbyville, Kentucky Burned buildings and structures in the United States Restaurants established in 1968