The fast-food franchise known for the slogan “Finger Lickin’ Good” is KFC.
The phrase became associated with the Kentucky Fried Chicken brand in the 1950s. Pete Harman, KFC’s first franchisee, trademarked the expression after it emerged from the atmosphere surrounding an early advertisement. The slogan was adopted across the chain and became one of the best-known lines in twentieth-century advertising.
KFC’s identity grew from Colonel Harland Sanders’s fried-chicken recipe and franchising system. Sanders opened the first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise near Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1952. Harman also helped popularize the family bucket, introduced in 1957, which became another distinctive part of KFC’s branding.
A common mix-up is to treat the phrase as a generic description of fried chicken rather than a trademarked brand slogan. KFC briefly paused its advertising use during the COVID-19 pandemic because the wording encouraged face touching, but the association between the slogan and KFC remained unmistakable.