The KFC name comes from the place KFC, Texas, founded by Harland Sanders. Harland Sanders was one of the first investors to see the benefits of franchising during the famous Great Depression in the United States and opened the first franchised KFC restaurant in 1952. He was also the first to make a name for himself with chicken fast food and brought a lot of competition to the mainstay of the time, the "burger". Unfortunately, the company grew too big for Sanders to run, and he chose to sell the brand to other investors. KFC was internationalized after about 1960, and was one of the first fast food restaurants to be internationalized. KFC went through two other investors before PepsiCo, the company that now operates KFC. KFC was also the first fast food restaurant chain to open in China in 1987. Because of the high return on investment, PepsiCo opened many KFCs in China very quickly, and China became their most profitable market.