Vintage Cups, Glasses and Mugs

In our blogs, we’ve been featuring a different promotional or corporate restaurantware product made over the years. This is another in the group of cool retro cups, glasses or mugs from our large collection. Here we’ll be sharing what we’ve learned about it and we welcome your additional input and comments.

This cup dates to 1954 and was manufactured by the Lily-Tulip Cup Corporation for the world famous fried chicken chain, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). The KFC legend began with Harland Sanders, who later became known as the “Colonel”. In 1930 Sanders opened a Shell gas station in Corbin, Kentucky. The following year, he moved across the street to a Gulf station where he added on a restaurant. This grew into the Sanders Court & Café, a full-service motel and restaurant complex by 1937. It was there that Sanders developed his famous recipe for fried chicken. He convinced other restaurants to put his recipe onto their menus and pay him a small portion of the proceeds. This arrangement led to the fast food franchise restaurant chain known as Kentucky Fried Chicken.

In 1991, when they changed their name to KFC, the Colonel’s image was dropped from food packaging and restaurant signage, as was the slogan, “Finger lickin’ good”. The Colonel’s image has returned once again, but in a very stylized rendition. So this cup is a special memento of KFC history and its founder, Harland Sanders. Today KFC is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

Manufactured by:
Lily-Tulip Cup Corporation
New York, New York