KFC still guards Colonel's secret recipe

The Colonel’s own handwritten recipe is tucked away in a safe at KFC headquarters, with portions locked away in safe deposit boxes at undisclosed locations as backup.

For years, Sanders carried the secret formula in his head and the spice mixture in his car. At one time, he carried a copy of the recipe in his wallet.

Sanders’ personal secretary, Shirley Topmiller, recalled that Sanders once handed her a “little, raggedy piece of paper” and asked her to make a copy.

“When the printed copy came out, I saw enough to know I was looking at a recipe,” Topmiller said. “I rushed back with both pieces and I really kind of chastised him. I said, ‘Colonel, you cannot walk around with this in your billfold.”’

Sanders later assured her that he had put the recipe in a more secure place. He remained a KFC spokesman — pitching the fried chicken on folksy television ads — until his death in 1980 at age 90.

John Y. Brown Jr said he was given a copy of the recipe when he and other investors purchased KFC from Sanders for $2 million in 1964.

“I never paid any attention to it because I wasn’t going to mess with it,” said Brown, who later became governor of Kentucky.

KFC was sold again in 1971 for $285 million, and changed hands a few times until becoming part of Yum, which claims such other brands as Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Long John Silver’s.

Occasionally, KFC hears from people who claim they have a copy of the Colonel’s recipe, Dedrick said. After having struggled for most of his life, the Colonel wasn’t about to let the recipe’s secret slip, Topmiller said, adding it became “part of his persona.”

Others have tried to replicate the recipe but failed, Dedrick said.

“We’ve had some people who have claimed they’ve found the Holy Grail,” he said. “But no one’s really found the Holy Grail. We’ve got the Holy Grail locked up in a safe place.”

And what if the secret ever leaked?

“We would certainly feel like we had broken a trust with the Colonel,” Dedrick said.

Beyond such sentimentalities, there would be serious business consequences. KFC would have to make sure it retained exclusive rights to the recipe and fight off copycats, he said.

Dedrick said he doesn’t worry about the recipe being revealed.

Those who know the blend of ingredients consider it a cherished trust, Dedrick said. Also, anyone divulging it might incur “the curse of the Colonel,” he said.

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