Yum! Brands, Inc. Public Relations
Laurie Schalow
502-874-8200
laurie.schalow@yum.com
or
KFC Corporation Public Relations
Rick Maynard
502-874-8100
rick.maynard@kfc.com
- Announcement of Rare Autobiography Comes on Eve of 11/11/11, a Significant Date for the Brand Known for 11 Herbs and Spices; Book Includes Colonel's Life Lessons Plus a Collection of His Favorite Home-Style Recipes Collected Throughout His Lifetime -
(BLACK PR WIRE)--LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On the eve of 11/11/11, KFC Corp., the brand famous for 11 herbs and spices announced today that it has discovered an unpublished “food autobiography” of the company’s founder, Colonel Harland Sanders, hidden in the company’s Louisville archival storage facility for the past 40 years.
The original autobiography provides an authentic look into the life of the world’s legendary entrepreneur and is centered on his passion for food, hard work and the importance of home-style country cooking. In it, the Colonel shares his personal memoirs and perspectives, life lessons, anecdotes and stories about everything from food to family, business, hard work, customers and franchisees and importantly, some of his own favorite personal recipes.
An excerpt from the opening chapter reads:
“This is a new kind of book. There’s never been another written like it as far as I know. It’s the story of a man’s life and the story of the food he’s cooked and eaten, running right along with it. The food I’ve liked, the work I’ve done and the way I think are all the same thing. I’m going to tell how I grew up and at the same time how you can have the kind of food I grew up on. I’m making room in these pages for real old-time American country and farm cooking before it’s forgotten. I was a farm boy and lean toward farm cooking. To me, my recipes are priceless.”
The Colonel learned to cook down-home, country-style food at an early age from his mother and carried those skills with him throughout his life. In the “food autobiography”, he shared for the first time his personal collection of favorite recipes that he gathered and perfected over his lifetime, including his very first recipe to make light bread which he mastered at age seven. A range of dishes are included for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with instructions on the right way to make biscuits, pancakes, omelets, casserole, pies and much more. One of his goals for the unpublished book was to provide inspiration and practical lessons for the home cook as well.
“We’ve uncovered a new secret of the Colonel’s and we want to share it with millions of KFC fans around the world,” said Roger Eaton, Chief Executive Officer, KFC Corp. “Colonel Sanders was a lifelong cook and sage and his life lessons are just as powerful and relevant today as they were forty years go. He is known for creating delicious home-style meals, developing recipes from scratch and sharing his strong beliefs with friends and family along the way. That’s why we are so delighted to let KFC fans know we will be releasing the ‘food autobiography’ next year,” added Eaton.
At the age of 65, Colonel Sanders turned a $105 Social Security check into a global chicken empire and until his death at the age of 90, traveled 250,000 miles a year visiting KFC restaurants worldwide.
The original manuscript for the “food autobiography” was discovered by accident by Amy Sherwood, a 30-year veteran of the company who immediately realized the value and significance of the find. The Company believes that if someone less knowledgeable about the brand had found the document, it likely would have stayed in the archives and remained undiscovered for years.
The original “food autobiography” has been put in the KFC’s vault, next to the Secret Original Recipe®, which the Colonel made famous. The vault was modernized and remodeled in 2009 to go high tech. The custom-built, digital FireKing safe protecting KFCs secrets weighs more than 770 lbs. and has a one-half inch thick steel door. The computerized safe also has a dual-opening system that requires both a smart key and a personal identification number (PIN). A built-in silent alarm and time lock feature provide additional layers of safekeeping which alert the security team of any attempted intrusion and allow access to the safe during pre-set periods of time. The vault is under 24/7 closed circuit monitoring as well.
For more information about KFC and the Colonel’s manuscript visit www.facebook.com/KFC or www.kfc.com.
About KFC
KFC Corporation, based in Louisville, Ky., is the world’s most popular chicken restaurant chain specializing in Original Recipe®, Extra Crispy™, Kentucky Grilled Chicken® and Crispy Strips with home-style sides, Hot Wings, and freshly made chicken sandwiches including the Double Down™ and the Doublicious™. There are more than 15,000 KFC outlets in 109 countries and territories around the world serving some 12 million customers each day. KFC Corporation is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., Louisville, Ky. (NYSE: YUM)
About Colonel Sanders
The Kentucky Fried Chicken concept was pioneered by Colonel Harland Sanders (1890-1980), whose cooking career began at age six. Sanders held jobs ranging from streetcar conductor to insurance salesman, but his cooking skills were a constant throughout his life. In 1930, Sanders operated a service station in Corbin, Ky., and filled the stomachs of hungry travelers who stopped in to fill up their gas tanks. Sanders soon moved his restaurant across the street when he could no longer keep up with the demand from travelers who he had been feeding at his kitchen table. In 1935, the Kentucky Governor made Sanders an honorary Kentucky Colonel for his contributions to the state's cuisine. Over the next decade, the Colonel perfected his secret blend of 11 herbs and spices and the basic cooking technique still used at KFC today. When Sanders was 65, a new interstate highway forced the closure of his restaurant and he was left with only his recipe for fried chicken and a $105 Social Security check. The Colonel hit the road and struck handshake deals with restaurant owners who agreed to sell his fried chicken. What began as a dream fueled by the Original Recipe, a no-quit attitude and a Social Security check grew into the world's largest chicken restaurant chain.
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