A History of Lee's Chicken

  • 1930. Henryville, IN- Lee Cummings' childhood was spent in the kitchen of his family's home.
  • 1952. On the Road- Lee and his uncle, Colonel Harlan Sanders took to the road,selling their own special spices and pressure cookers, which later became part of Kentucky Fried Chicken's "Secret Recipe."
  • 1959. Competition is ON- Colonel Sanders started franchising the original KFC's, and Lee Cummings was named President
  • 1962. Historic Headlines- In three years, the Colonel and Lee had opened 800 KFC stores. In 1962, The Colonel sold the chicken chain, and Lee Cummings began developing his recipe, later to be known as "Famous Recipe."
  • 1966. Ohio Gets First Taste of Famous Recipe Lee Cummings joined up with Harold Omer and began the first "Harold's Take Home" restaurant in Lima, Ohio, where Lee introduced his first Famous Recipe Chicken.
  • 1967. Famous Recipe Moves On New stores in Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio, and Kalamazoo, Michigan.
  • 1972. 100th Famous Recipe Opens This was the limit for the company pilot and Director of Operations, Jerry Sulivan, who helped open 65 stores for the company and became a franchisee and opened store number 100 in Sanford, Florida.
  • 1981. Famous Recipe 15th anniversary. Famous Recipe marked it's 15th anniversary the same year Shoney's Inc. from Nashville, Tennessee purchased the rights to the company.
  • 1982. Famous Recipe's First Farmhouse Building- Lee's introduces it's new farmhouse design in Jacksonville, Florida.
  • 1989. Lee's Opens in Jefferson City, Missouri-Gary Fisher opens the family's first unit.
  • 1991. Lee's Celebrates it's 25th anniversary with Lee Cummings as National Spokesperson.
  • 1995. Lee Purchased by RTM- A new era began when Lee's was purchased by RTM
  • 2003. Lee's Celebrates 37 Years and New Ownership With a Vision- The Franchise was purchased by Lees's Famous Recipes and have targeted aggressive qrowth opportunities in it's upcoming years.
  • 2004. Fisher's Continue Growth- A third store by the Fisher's is opened in Columbia, Missouri.
  • 2009. New website, showmelees.com launches.
  • 2009. Fisher celebrates 20 years of serving Central Missouri.