Published: Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Top-secret treatment for KFC's recipe
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Pssst. The secret's out at KFC. Well, sort of.
Colonel Harland Sanders' handwritten recipe of 11 herbs and spices was removed Tuesday from safekeeping at KFC's corporate offices for the first time in decades. The temporary relocation is allowing KFC to revamp security around a yellowing sheet of paper that contains one of the country's most famous corporate secrets.
The brand's top executive admitted his nerves were aflutter despite tight security.
"I don't want to be the president who loses the recipe," KFC President Roger Eaton said. "Imagine how terrifying that would be."
The recipe that launched the chain was placed in a lock box that was handcuffed to security expert Bo Dietl. He boarded an armored car that drove off escorted by off-duty police officers.
So important is the 68-year-old concoction that coats the chain's Original Recipe chicken that only two company executives at any time have access to it. The company refuses to release their names or titles, and it uses multiple suppliers who produce and blend the ingredients but know only a part of the entire contents.
The recipe has been stashed at company headquarters for decades, and for more than 20 years has been in a filing cabinet with two combination locks. To reach the cabinet, the keepers of the recipe would first open up a vault and unlock three locks on a door in front of the cabinet.
Colonel Harland Sanders' handwritten recipe of 11 herbs and spices was removed Tuesday from safekeeping at KFC's corporate offices for the first time in decades. The temporary relocation is allowing KFC to revamp security around a yellowing sheet of paper that contains one of the country's most famous corporate secrets.
The brand's top executive admitted his nerves were aflutter despite tight security.
"I don't want to be the president who loses the recipe," KFC President Roger Eaton said. "Imagine how terrifying that would be."
The recipe that launched the chain was placed in a lock box that was handcuffed to security expert Bo Dietl. He boarded an armored car that drove off escorted by off-duty police officers.
So important is the 68-year-old concoction that coats the chain's Original Recipe chicken that only two company executives at any time have access to it. The company refuses to release their names or titles, and it uses multiple suppliers who produce and blend the ingredients but know only a part of the entire contents.
The recipe has been stashed at company headquarters for decades, and for more than 20 years has been in a filing cabinet with two combination locks. To reach the cabinet, the keepers of the recipe would first open up a vault and unlock three locks on a door in front of the cabinet.
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