Posts: 7598 |
weirdmom Posted Tue 09 Sep, 2008 4:08 PM |
Upon reading this article I want to steal their recipe just to tick them off. I mean is all of this really necessary??
KFC Secret
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Pssst. The secret's out at KFC. Well, sort of. Colonel Harland Sanders' handwritten recipe of 11 herbs and spices was to be 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 the tight security he lined up for the operation.
"I don't want to be the president who loses the recipe," KFC President Roger Eaton said. "Imagine how terrifying that would be."
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 name or title, and it uses multiple suppliers who produce and blend the ingredients but know only a part of the entire contents.
Louisville-based KFC, part of the fast-food company Yum Brands Inc., hired off-duty police officers and private security guards to whisk the document away to an undisclosed location in an armored car. The recipe will be slid into a briefcase and handcuffed to security expert Bo Dietl for the ride.
"There's no way anybody could get this recipe," said Dietl, a former New York City police detective. His security firm is also handling the security improvements for the recipe at headquarters, but he wouldn't say what changes they're making.
For more than 20 years, the recipe has been tucked away in a filing cabinet equipped with two combination locks in company headquarters. To reach the cabinet, the keepers of the recipe would first open up a vault and unlock three locks on a door that stood in front of the cabinet.
Vials of the herbs and spices are also stored in the secret filing cabinet.
"The smell is overwhelming when you open it," said one of two keepers of the recipe in an interview at company headquarters.
The biggest prize, though, is a single sheet of notebook paper, yellowed by age, that lays out the entire formula — including exact amounts for each ingredient — written in pencil and signed by Sanders.
Others have tried to replicate the recipe, and occasionally someone claims to have found a copy of Sanders' creation. The executive said none have come close, adding the actual recipe would include some surprises.
Sanders developed the formula in 1940 at his tiny restaurant in southeastern Kentucky and used it to launch the KFC chain in the early 1950s.
Sanders died in 1980, but his likeness is still central to KFC's marketing.
"The recipe to him, in later years, was everything he stood for," said Shirley Topmiller, his personal secretary for about 12 years.
Larry Miller, a restaurant analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said the recipe's value is "almost an immeasurable thing. It's part of that important brand image that helps differentiate the KFC product."
KFC had a total of 14,892 locations worldwide at the end of 2007. The chain has had strong sales overseas, especially in its fast-growing China market, but has struggled in the U.S. amid a more health-conscious public. KFC posted U.S. sales of $5.3 billion at company-owned and franchised stores in 2007. |
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Posts: 1667 |
Typing to Reach You Posted Tue 09 Sep, 2008 4:14 PM |
| Lol. Well, the security is completely over the top I agree. But there is something kinda cool about it as well. Maybe they'll base the next Indiana Jones film around it. :P |
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Posts: 2012 |
Darran Posted Tue 09 Sep, 2008 4:25 PM |
| No one has got near to creating anything like the taste of KFC chicken and if that receipe got out it would be the downfall of them and many people jobs. |
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Posts: 8142 |
minnmess Posted Tue 09 Sep, 2008 4:33 PM |
| this is pretty ridic, but also funny. If you do steal the recipe will you share? I love me some uber greasy going to kill me chicken! oh man, i havent had KFC in years! |
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Posts: 317 |
SAM(LOS ANGELES) Posted Tue 09 Sep, 2008 5:31 PM |
| i think it's cool that they have something that is theirs only, and want to keep it that way. i would do the same thing. |
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Posts: 4270 |
ElspethOllie Posted Tue 09 Sep, 2008 5:37 PM |
| Popeye's is better anyway |
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Posts: 7404 |
Turtleneck Posted Tue 09 Sep, 2008 5:46 PM |
I just downloaded the ingredients list. It just says "spices." What if someone had a deathly paprika allergy? Shouldn't you be able to find out if their chicken contains paprika? Even Coca-Cola has an ingredients list.
You should read the ingredients list on their "potatoes." Artificial color, artificial flavor, preserved with BHT (which is a petroleum-based preservative). Mmmmm, just like grandma used to make. |
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Posts: 5323 |
goosey_84 Posted Tue 09 Sep, 2008 6:00 PM |
ElspethOllie wrote: Popeye's is better anyway
mmm 'love that chicken at popeye's!' haha |
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Posts: 4469 |
Lemon Grinner Posted Tue 09 Sep, 2008 6:49 PM |
Darran wrote: No one has got near to creating anything like the taste of KFC chicken and if that receipe got out it would be the downfall of them and many people jobs.
You should come to the chicken place on the end of my road, their hot wings are the best chicken I've ever tasted!! Better than anything KFC ever did. |
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Posts: 1129 |
mozman68 Posted Tue 09 Sep, 2008 8:21 PM |
SAM(LOS ANGELES) wrote: i think it's cool that they have something that is theirs only, and want to keep it that way. i would do the same thing.
You still have your virginity..... |
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Posts: 10115 |
ricv64 Posted Tue 09 Sep, 2008 8:29 PM |
goosey_84 wrote: ElspethOllie wrote: Popeye's is better anyway
mmm 'love that chicken at popeye's!' haha
Churches . you know you live in the ghetto if there's a Churches nearby |
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Posts: 4270 |
ElspethOllie Posted Tue 09 Sep, 2008 8:50 PM |
When my grandmother died last May we all went over to my grandparents house that day (all of my immediate family lives within 20 miles). The normal thing to do is bring food of course, and everyone... EVERYONE brought chicken. I was in and out of the house for days during the food pileup and there was an obscene amount of chicken. I was so happy when my uncle brought over Turkey Chili. I was like, "Yes! No more chicken!" It's just a thing black people do I guess...
Lots of churches chicken too. |
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Posts: 317 |
SAM(LOS ANGELES) Posted Tue 09 Sep, 2008 11:42 PM |
mozman68 wrote: SAM(LOS ANGELES) wrote: i think it's cool that they have something that is theirs only, and want to keep it that way. i would do the same thing.
You still have your virginity.....
Yes, and your mother's |
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