KFC knows how to keep a secret

As a long-standing cornerstone of KFC, world's most popular chicken restaurant chain, Sanders' Original Recipe ranks among America's most valuable trade secrets.

"The concept of having a secret recipe is priceless and it provides KFC with a meaningful point of difference and a competitive advantage,"said Ron Paul, president of Technomics.

Now, for the first time in 68 years, KFC is moving the Colonel's most prized possession. To help keep its most valuable asset safe, KFC has hired national corporate security expert and former New York City Police Detective Bo Dietl to consult on its security modernization project and oversee the temporary relocation of Sanders' Original Recipe.

"My first security recommendation to keep this high-value asset safe is to move it to a top-secret, secure location until new corporate security upgrades are in place,"said Dietl.

With the help of the Louisville Metro Police Department and Brink's, Incorporated, an armored car and a locked briefcase handcuffed to Mr. Dietl, the Original Recipe will be transported from KFC corporate headquarters to an undisclosed location for safekeeping while Dietl's recommended security upgrades are evaluated.

It takes many moving parts to keep the secret Original Recipe under wraps. Only two KFC executives know the finger-lickin' recipe of 11 herbs and spices. A third executive knows the combination to the safe where the handwritten recipe resides. Less than a handful of KFC employees know the identities of the three executives, who are not allowed to travel together on the same plane or in the same car for security reasons.

The specific details of the secret recipe of herbs and spices are shrouded in secrecy, even among the suppliers who produce and blend it. Multiple suppliers are involved in the process, bound by strict secrecy agreements, and none of the individual suppliers know the entire formula. To further safeguard the secret recipe, KFC does not identify the suppliers involved in producing and blending the recipe.