LOUISVILLE, Ky., Aug. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In a series of
advertisements debuting this week, Kentucky Fried
Chicken® has announced that the newest celebrity to
portray Colonel Harland Sanders is
the brand's founder himself.
Created in 1940, the Colonel's secret Original Recipe® blend of
11 herbs and spices is the very foundation upon which Kentucky
Fried Chicken was built; as such, the only person that could do
justice to this beloved recipe is KFC's original Colonel and No.1
chicken salesman, Colonel Harland
Sanders. To bring the original Colonel Sanders back into its
advertising, KFC has turned to the magic of technology, utilizing
authentic, nostalgic KFC advertisements from the '60s and '70s
featuring the Colonel, interspersed with contemporary footage.
"We've had some amazing celebrity Colonels over the past two
years, and each of them has put their own twist on our original
Colonel Harland Sanders," said
George Felix, KFC U.S. director of
advertising. "But no one can play the Colonel like the Colonel can
play the Colonel. Unfortunately, our original Colonel stopped
making ads in the 1970s, so we utilized technology to bring him
into the 21st century to sell modern-day offers like our
$5 Fill Up and $10 Chicken Share himself."
To celebrate Original Recipe and the 60th anniversary
of the KFC bucket, the brand is also introducing a contemporary
take on the iconic bucket. Giving a nod to the brand's heritage,
the new bucket is emblazoned with pop culture relevant,
fried-chicken colloquialisms that reclaim pride in fried chicken
and give a nod to the Colonel's famous over-the-top salesman
personality.
Today, expertly trained cooks in every KFC kitchen carefully
hand bread each piece of chicken with KFC's still-secret recipe of
11 herbs and spices, and then pressure cook it at a low temperature
– a method the Colonel created and once patented to preserve
the great taste KFC is known for around the world.
One of the biggest trade secrets in the world and a cornerstone
of KFC, only one copy of the recipe is in existence, and it is
housed and closely guarded at KFC headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, in a top-secret,
770-pound vault encased in two feet of concrete with a 24-hour
video and motion-detection surveillance system. Not even the
company that produces the blend knows the exact formulation –
portions of spices are developed at different locations in
the United States, and then
shipped to a single location where the spices are blended together
before being sent to the restaurants.
Original Recipe chicken is the No.1 selling menu item in KFC's
nearly 4,200 restaurants across the U.S. In fact, each year KFC
sells approximately 60 million buckets of chicken, and
approximately 680 million pieces of Original Recipe fried chicken
in the U.S. Today you can enjoy Original Recipe chicken in a
$5 Fill Up™ or $10 Chicken Share™.
About KFC
KFC Corporation, based in Louisville, Ky., is the world's most popular
chicken restaurant chain. KFC specializes in Original Recipe®,
Extra Crispy™, Kentucky Grilled Chicken® and Extra Crispy™ Tenders,
Hot Wings™, Go Cups, KFC Famous Bowls®, Pot Pies, freshly hand
prepared chicken sandwiches, biscuits and homestyle side items.
There are over 20,500 KFC outlets in more than 125 countries and
territories around the world. KFC Corporation is a subsidiary of
Yum! Brands, Inc., Louisville, Ky.
(NYSE: YUM). For more information, visit www.kfc.com. Follow
KFC on Facebook (www.facebook.com/kfc), Twitter
(www.twitter.com/kfc) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/KFC).
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SOURCE KFC