November 2021 Featured Interview
GIVING IS LIVING
An Interview with
Darlene L. Pfeiffer
Trailblazing Entrepreneur, Dedicated Philanthropist and Advocate for Women
Photo Credit: Michael Gold (The Corporate Image)
About Darlene:
Darlene L. Pfeiffer, a trailblazing, magnanimous entrepreneur, has built a philanthropic and entrepreneurial legacy fueled by her passion for women and education, earning her a spot in the 2013 publication Remarkable Women in New York State History.
Darlene was inspired to launch an entrepreneurial career in the fast-food business after a chance meeting with Dave Thomas, the future founder of Wendy’s international quick service food chain. When Darlene opened five Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant locations in 1966, the bank stipulated that her husband take a 51 percent stake in the loan. After later divorcing her husband, she pushed forward, maintaining ownership of three of the original five franchises while completing her education at the State University of New York at New Paltz, graduating summa cum laude.
In 2016, Darlene’s Kingston KFC franchise won an award for being number one in customer service out of approximately 4,000 KFC restaurants nationwide. That same year, Darlene was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchisees.
Darlene has been strategically involved in numerous charitable organizations throughout the region, regularly giving to community food programs, and as donor and member of the Board of Trustees of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley.
In 2010, Darlene joined the Ulster Community College Foundation, Inc.’s Board of Directors, and in 2012, the Darlene L. Pfeiffer Center for Entrepreneurial Studies opened at SUNY Ulster. At the time, the donation for the center was the largest single gift to the community college by a living donor, earning her recognition from the New York Community College Trustees with the Benefactor Vision for Tomorrow Award.
Darlene was inspired to launch an entrepreneurial career in the fast-food business after a chance meeting with Dave Thomas, the future founder of Wendy’s international quick service food chain. When Darlene opened five Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant locations in 1966, the bank stipulated that her husband take a 51 percent stake in the loan. After later divorcing her husband, she pushed forward, maintaining ownership of three of the original five franchises while completing her education at the State University of New York at New Paltz, graduating summa cum laude.
In 2016, Darlene’s Kingston KFC franchise won an award for being number one in customer service out of approximately 4,000 KFC restaurants nationwide. That same year, Darlene was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchisees.
Darlene has been strategically involved in numerous charitable organizations throughout the region, regularly giving to community food programs, and as donor and member of the Board of Trustees of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley.
In 2010, Darlene joined the Ulster Community College Foundation, Inc.’s Board of Directors, and in 2012, the Darlene L. Pfeiffer Center for Entrepreneurial Studies opened at SUNY Ulster. At the time, the donation for the center was the largest single gift to the community college by a living donor, earning her recognition from the New York Community College Trustees with the Benefactor Vision for Tomorrow Award.
|
In 2015, the SUNY Ulster OWN It! Entrepreneurial Women’s Conference was launched. The annual event, sponsored through Darlene’s contributions and vision, has galvanized and energized women entrepreneurs, serving some 500 women to date.
Darlene was also the originating contributor for SUNY Ulster’s Pfeiffer Technology and Innovation Lab, a member of SMARTT (SUNY Manufacturing Alliance for Research and Technology Transfer) which opened in September 2017. In 2018, Darlene was the second recipient to receive the Foundation's Your Promise Their Future Award that acknowledges donors who, “provide future or present-day funding deemed to be transformative.” Her impact as SUNY Ulster's top donor and support of the broader community is immeasurable. |
|
Myrna Beth Haskell, executive editor, met with Darlene at her home in Port Ewen, NY. Lorraine Salmon, Executive Director of Ulster Community College Foundation, sat in on the conversation as well. Darlene talked about her journey as a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) franchisee, the reasons behind her success, and her passion for giving to others and making her community a better place to live. As the first woman president of the Association of KFC Franchisees (AKFCF), she is tough as nails with a generous spirit and a great sense of humor.
You met Dave Thomas (a KFC franchisee who would become the founder of Wendy’s, a fast-food restaurant chain established in 1969) in Ohio in the mid-1960s. He convinced you to become a KFC franchisee. What did he say that made you excited about the idea?
I was living in Saugerties and bored to death, so I headed to Columbus, Ohio to visit my mom. I couldn’t wait to get to a KFC. At the time, we didn’t have one [in the Ulster County, NY area]. While there, I decided I was going to call the office [to learn more about the business].
Dave met with me the next day. He said, ‘Honey, it’s the easiest business in the world. You’ve got to do it! All you have to do is count chickens.’ He told me I just needed to keep track of the chicken – how much comes in, how much is sold, and how much had to be frozen if it wasn’t cooked in one and a half hours (chicken that didn’t sell was frozen and given to homeless shelters). Darlene laughs. I figured I had been counting passengers as a flight attendant for seven years. I was used to counting.
After meeting with Dave, I later flew down to meet the director of sales, and he told me, ‘You don’t want one. You want five.’ He basically explained that if I was going to go through the trouble of learning the business and starting one, I should open several.
I had saved every penny I could over the years. I had $20,500 to put down. However, the corporate treasurer told me that it wasn’t enough to open five. So, I went back to my accountant. I had some stock, too, and I figured out a way to make it happen.
In 1966, you could not obtain a loan unless your husband agreed to be a majority shareholder. Things have changed over the years, but businesswomen still face obstacles. Please share an obstacle you faced and how you were able to overcome it.
Well, thank goodness they [the times] have changed!
You met Dave Thomas (a KFC franchisee who would become the founder of Wendy’s, a fast-food restaurant chain established in 1969) in Ohio in the mid-1960s. He convinced you to become a KFC franchisee. What did he say that made you excited about the idea?
I was living in Saugerties and bored to death, so I headed to Columbus, Ohio to visit my mom. I couldn’t wait to get to a KFC. At the time, we didn’t have one [in the Ulster County, NY area]. While there, I decided I was going to call the office [to learn more about the business].
Dave met with me the next day. He said, ‘Honey, it’s the easiest business in the world. You’ve got to do it! All you have to do is count chickens.’ He told me I just needed to keep track of the chicken – how much comes in, how much is sold, and how much had to be frozen if it wasn’t cooked in one and a half hours (chicken that didn’t sell was frozen and given to homeless shelters). Darlene laughs. I figured I had been counting passengers as a flight attendant for seven years. I was used to counting.
After meeting with Dave, I later flew down to meet the director of sales, and he told me, ‘You don’t want one. You want five.’ He basically explained that if I was going to go through the trouble of learning the business and starting one, I should open several.
I had saved every penny I could over the years. I had $20,500 to put down. However, the corporate treasurer told me that it wasn’t enough to open five. So, I went back to my accountant. I had some stock, too, and I figured out a way to make it happen.
In 1966, you could not obtain a loan unless your husband agreed to be a majority shareholder. Things have changed over the years, but businesswomen still face obstacles. Please share an obstacle you faced and how you were able to overcome it.
Well, thank goodness they [the times] have changed!
Lorraine Salmon (left) and Darlene Celebrate
Darlene's $1,000,000 endowment to SUNY Ulster (June 2021) Photo Courtesy: Ulster Community College Foundation |
The guy at the bank told me, ‘You might get pregnant and not pay us back.’ So, my husband signed on with 51 percent. Later, he wound up opening four in his name only, using money from my KFC locations to do this. We wound up getting divorced, and I kept three of the five.
Darlene explained that she moved on and continued to work hard to make her locations successful, and that she did! Darlene received an award for Number One in Customer Service from KFC in 2016. But a huge challenge for me was fighting a lawsuit with PepsiCo when I was president of the Association of KFC Franchisees. KFC had been sold several times [since Sanders gave up sole ownership in 1964]. In 1986, PepsiCo bought it. A few years later, they wanted to change our contract. They wanted to make the chicken elsewhere, freeze it, and sell it at other locations. This went against everything Colonel Sanders had originally believed in. They also wanted to take away our territorial protection that prevented another KFC restaurant from opening up down the street. [They wanted to change the franchisees' radius protection.] The president of PepsiCo told me, ‘This is your new contract. If you don’t accept it, you’ll have to deal with me.’ |
Well, I responded, ‘I guess you’ll have to deal with me then.’
Then, they tried to intimidate us by threatening to take our annual convention away. I told them to go ahead and take it away. Then, I planned the convention myself. I invited vendors to take out ads and to display their wares. We [Association of KFC Franchisees] wound up making money on this convention…money that could be used for the lawsuit.
I also started a quarterly magazine that was distributed to franchisees throughout the country. We sold ads and informed the franchisees about what was going on with the lawsuit. It kept everyone in the loop.
This lawsuit went on for seven years. I was no longer president when they called me back in to help in the last stretch. They said, ‘We want Darlene back.’
Note: Darlene served two terms as President of the Association of KFC Franchisees. The lawsuit was finally settled with PepsiCo in 1997.
Finding work-life balance is an issue many women struggle with. How did you manage to complete your degree while running your KFC locations?
Then, they tried to intimidate us by threatening to take our annual convention away. I told them to go ahead and take it away. Then, I planned the convention myself. I invited vendors to take out ads and to display their wares. We [Association of KFC Franchisees] wound up making money on this convention…money that could be used for the lawsuit.
I also started a quarterly magazine that was distributed to franchisees throughout the country. We sold ads and informed the franchisees about what was going on with the lawsuit. It kept everyone in the loop.
This lawsuit went on for seven years. I was no longer president when they called me back in to help in the last stretch. They said, ‘We want Darlene back.’
Note: Darlene served two terms as President of the Association of KFC Franchisees. The lawsuit was finally settled with PepsiCo in 1997.
Finding work-life balance is an issue many women struggle with. How did you manage to complete your degree while running your KFC locations?
|
You know, I just did! I loved school, and I loved my business. She smiles. I graduated summa cum laude.
Do you attribute a positive relationship with your employees to be the primary reason for your success? Yes. Employees should always be treated with respect. I loved them and they loved me. My relationship with my employees was a big part of my success. We were a family. It’s all about teamwork and strong leadership. Darlene explained that it was the positive environment and the caring atmosphere she fostered that was part of the reason why customers kept coming back. Then she shared this heartwarming story: This young man was working for me. He was fifteen and loved to play the trumpet. I helped him with schoolwork sometimes. He came to me one day and said his mother was very sick and in the hospital. I went to visit her. I didn’t know this woman at all, but I had gotten to know her son, Peter, and I cared deeply for him. She asked, ‘If I die, will you take Peter?’ I saw this young girl standing in the corner whom I assumed was Peter’s little sister. So, I asked, ‘What about her?’ Peter’s mom told me she planned to make arrangements for her daughter to live with a distant aunt. Well, I couldn’t have that! They needed to stay together. So, I took them both. Darlene became Mom to Peter and his little sister, Beverly (Bevie). |
Own It! Conference (2016): L to R: Professor Anita Bleffert-Schmidt, Ph.D.;
Lorraine Salmon, Executive Director of Ulster Community College Foundation; Associate Professor Mindy Kole, Ph.D.; Silda Wall Spitzer, former First Lady of New York State & Co-Founder of New York Makers; Darlene L. Pfeiffer; Christine Murphy, New York States of Mind Photo Courtesy: Ulster Community College Foundation |
Harland Sanders (a.k.a. Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken) visited you on many occasions. What did you admire about his leadership style?
He originally owned a gas station during the Great Depression, and he would sell his ‘secret recipe’ fried chicken to the truckers that pulled in. That’s how it all started. Word spread fast.
He was a determined man and a very generous man. He also considered his franchisees family.* He was also hands-on and wanted to see things done right. The chicken arrived fresh and was cooked in pressure cookers** that he leased to the franchisees. Gravy was a passion of his, and he would visit locations and show the workers the proper way to make it. If he saw that the gravy wasn’t being made right, he’d threaten to take the pressure cooker away!
*“When Sanders sold KFC, he feared his franchisees would lose control of their own businesses and the future they were working toward. So, he encouraged them to unite to protect the franchisees that he considered part of his own ‘family’ and to give the franchisees a voice in the future development of a concept which would prove to be far greater than was envisioned at the time.” (AKFCF website).
**Sanders was one of the first to use ‘pressure fryers.’ He believed the resulting flavor tasted a lot like using a frying pan. His original fried chicken recipe is still in use today.
He originally owned a gas station during the Great Depression, and he would sell his ‘secret recipe’ fried chicken to the truckers that pulled in. That’s how it all started. Word spread fast.
He was a determined man and a very generous man. He also considered his franchisees family.* He was also hands-on and wanted to see things done right. The chicken arrived fresh and was cooked in pressure cookers** that he leased to the franchisees. Gravy was a passion of his, and he would visit locations and show the workers the proper way to make it. If he saw that the gravy wasn’t being made right, he’d threaten to take the pressure cooker away!
*“When Sanders sold KFC, he feared his franchisees would lose control of their own businesses and the future they were working toward. So, he encouraged them to unite to protect the franchisees that he considered part of his own ‘family’ and to give the franchisees a voice in the future development of a concept which would prove to be far greater than was envisioned at the time.” (AKFCF website).
**Sanders was one of the first to use ‘pressure fryers.’ He believed the resulting flavor tasted a lot like using a frying pan. His original fried chicken recipe is still in use today.
Darlene with Mindy Kole, Ph.D.,
Director of the Darlene L. Pfeiffer, Center for Entrepreneurship Photo Courtesy: Ulster Community College Foundation |
How would you describe your leadership style?
I’m a doer. I don’t mess around. When I want to do something, I get it done. If I see a problem, I fix it. I’ve always been confident, and I’m also fair and consistent. [Back in the day], everyone called me Honey. Once I was in the business, I asked everyone to call me Mrs. Pfeiffer. It’s important to keep yourself in a position of respect and authority. It’s also important that you show consistency. When my daughter [Beverly] worked for me, she started to date the manager. I had a ‘no dating another employee’ policy at my locations. I told them they had three choices: She could quit. He could quit. They could stop dating. She chose to quit, and they wound up getting married. I hated putting them in that position. It was awful for me. But you have to show that rules are consistent for everyone – family or not. |
Do you have a piece of advice you'd like to share with other women entrepreneurs?
I have three things to share:
I have three things to share:
|
Number 1 – Have confidence in yourself. There is nothing you cannot do if you have confidence.
Number 2 – Set goals and never ever give up. Never let anyone force you to give up on your dreams and the goals you set for yourself. Number 3 – Share your success with others. I believe that when we give, we get back. I don’t mean that those who give get something back physically. It is the feeling you get from giving. My philosophy for life is: When we give, we live. When we give, we live more joyously. When we give, we live eternally. |
"When we give, we live. When we give, we live more joyously. When we give, we live eternally." ~ Darlene L. Pfeiffer |
You have given back to the community in so many ways, particularly to SUNY Ulster programs. I'm interested in hearing about a program you established called New Start for Women.
Sofia P. Reuner (left), Donor & Supporter of the
Herbert H. and Sofia P. Reuner Library Writer Series at SUNY Ulster, with Darlene at the 2019 Spring Scholarship Ceremony Photo Courtesy: Ulster Community College Foundation |
This is a program that helps women move ahead and gain confidence. This program encourages women to believe in themselves. Many come from tough environments and circumstances. Education is the fastest way to elevate someone in the community.
We had to figure out what was holding these women back from pursuing an education. The first thing we realized was the need for transportation. Many simply can’t get there. Secondly, many of these women are single mothers who can’t afford childcare while they attend classes. So, we decided to provide these supports through this program. We also got some of the women counseling (for those who had been physically abused). Lorraine Salmon shared a few more details about the program which launched in fall 2019. She explained that it’s a twelve-month certificate program through New York State for women living below the federal poverty level. Some graduates choose to pursue degrees and some move on to the workforce. Three graduates from the first cohort have already moved on to pursue their bachelor’s degrees. |
|
You also support the annual Own It! Entrepreneurial Women's Conference. What would you like to share about the conference?
It’s for women entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs. The keynote speakers share their success and set good examples for the attendees. The workshops are also valuable. I found it remarkable that no one left at the end of the day [regarding the 2016 conference]. Everyone stayed for a while to talk and share their experiences. The women are elevated by each other. It’s inspirational. The Own It! Entrepreneurial Women’s Conference, which launched in 2015, had to be cancelled twice due to the pandemic. The sixth annual conference is scheduled for the first week in June 2022. This one-day, annual conference provides actionable advice for women business owners. The Darlene L. Pfeiffer Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at SUNY Ulster and the Mid-Hudson Small Business Development Center (SBDC) sponsor the event. Sanctuary will be providing more detailed information about the 2022 conference in our March ’22 issue. Stay tuned. |
Slideshow Photo Courtesy: Ulster Community College Foundation
|
Where do you find sanctuary?
Online! Darlene starts to laugh at her reference to Sanctuary magazine.
I find sanctuary in serving God. I wake up every day saying, ‘I’m here. I’m your servant. Just show me the way.’ And he has.
Editor’s note: During our visit, I learned that Darlene has been playing piano since she was a child. She is also an animal lover and shared her plans to take in another puppy. As I was leaving, one of two gorgeous parrots called out, "Goodbye." I was smiling all the way to my car.
Online! Darlene starts to laugh at her reference to Sanctuary magazine.
I find sanctuary in serving God. I wake up every day saying, ‘I’m here. I’m your servant. Just show me the way.’ And he has.
Editor’s note: During our visit, I learned that Darlene has been playing piano since she was a child. She is also an animal lover and shared her plans to take in another puppy. As I was leaving, one of two gorgeous parrots called out, "Goodbye." I was smiling all the way to my car.
Find Out More About Some of the Organizations and Programs Darlene Supports:
