KFC’s parent company getting in way of sale of Colonel Sanders’ home, first restaurant

The owners of Colonel Sanders’ historic home and restaurant in Kentucky are having trouble selling the property due to trademark objections by KFC’s parent company, according to a report.

The New York Post reported that Yum! Brands has made the prospective sale of the Claudia Sanders Dinner House difficult by tightening trademark protections ever since the Shelbyville property went on the market in June.

The three-acre property contains a 5,000-square-foot private residence called Blackwood Hall as well as the restaurant. It is named after Col. Harland Sanders’ wife Claudia, for whom the colonel opened the restaurant in 1959. Mrs. Sanders died in 1994, 14 years after her husband.

Buyers have expressed an interest in turning the standalone restaurant into a franchise with locations outside Shelbyville, but Yum’s legal team submitted a filing to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office days after the property was made available, according to the Post.

The filing aims to bolster KFC trademarks such as “Colonel Sanders’ Original Recipe,” “Col. Harland Sanders” and “It’s Finger Lickin’ Good.”

“It’s a very unique situation,” said Jonathan Klunk of Six Degrees Real Estate, which has been hired to sell the properties.

“We are selling Claudia and she doesn’t have as much name recognition as her husband, but a buyer can’t describe her without mentioning both her husband and KFC,” he told the Post.

Tommy and Cherry Settle have owned the property since the 1970s. The couple are family friends of the Sanderses, with Mrs. Settle, 78, having worked at the restaurant as a former hostess and Mr. Settle, 80, being a ham supplier for the establishment, according to the Post.

The couple continue to live in Blackwood Hall and run the restaurant, but are now looking to retire.