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Colonel Sanders’ Handwritten Secret Recipe Returns Home

One of America’s most guarded trade secrets, Colonel Sanders’ handwritten Original Recipe, made a quiet return to its Louisville home last night. Accompanied by armed guards, KFC brought back the secret blend of 11 herbs and spices to its newly modernized and remodeled home.

The return of the valued secret comes as KFC launches its first ever Value Menu, an assortment of 10 delicious menu items all priced at a value-focused 99 cents, $1.49 or $1.99.

KFC Secret Recipe VaultThe Secret Recipe’s New Home – the KFC Ultimate Value Menu

Colonel Harland Sanders created the now-famous Original Recipe in 1940, and it hasn’t changed since. While Sanders’ Original Recipe fried chicken is a mainstay of the KFC menu, the signature taste of the Secret Recipe is available on the new Ultimate Value Menu via the Original Recipe Snacker sandwich and the Toasted Wrap. Value Menu items include:

  • 99 cents – KFC Snacker Sandwiches, Two Biscuits or Two Apple Turnovers
  • $1.49 – Side Salad or KFC® Toasted Wrap
  • $1.99 – Snack Boxes (Popcorn Chicken with Potato Wedges or Three Hot Wings® with Potato Wedges), Snack Size Bowl or Honey BBQ Sandwich

New Security Protects Original Recipe

The Secret Recipe's new high-tech home is like something out of a Hollywood movie. The custom-built, digital FireKing safe protecting the Secret Recipe weighs more than 770 lbs and has a 1/2" thick steel door. The built-in silent alarm and time lock feature provide additional layers of safekeeping.

The vault housing the new safe is reinforced with two feet of concrete in the ceiling, walls and floor to ensure that no one can tunnel or drill into the vault. Additionally, the vault and safe are now under 24-hour video and motion-detection surveillance.

A cornerstone of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Sanders’ Original Recipe ranks among America’s most valuable trade secrets. In September, KFC temporarily relocated the prized possession to an undisclosed secure location while upgrades were made under the supervision of corporate security expert and former New York City Police Detective Bo Dietl.

“The Colonel and KFC kept the Secret Recipe safe for 68 years and while the recipe has never changed, times have and the security needed an upgrade,” Dietl said. “We designed this system to keep the recipe under wraps for at least another 68 years.”