You're well acquainted with the questionably low-carb, chicken-on-chicken wonder that is the Double Down and you remember that time KFC tried to rebrand as "Kitchen Fresh Chicken," but there are a few things about the fried chicken chain that might surprise you.
Here's what you need to have on your radar, you know, just in case you find yourself starring in a a reboot of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with Colonel Sanders as the host, or need an emergency "fun fact" to revive an awkward lapse in small talk at your next office birthday party.
1. Only Two People Know the Exact Herb and Spice Blend for KFC's Original Chicken.
You know the recipe uses 11 herbs and spices, but the exact ingredients and measurements are protected in a way that'd make Dr. Evil proud: Behind a vault that's walled in with concrete blocks, with motion sensors and security cameras running around the clock to protect that yellow slip of paper baring Sanders' original recipe.
Only two company execs can know the recipe at any given time, and KFC won't release their names or titles, the Huffington Post reports.
2. In KFC's Early Days, You Could Buy the Recipe for Pennies.
Sanders franchised his fried chicken recipe—and seriously time-saving method of cooking fried chicken in pressure cookers instead of cast-iron skillets—to his first partner, Pete Harman, for 4 to 5 cents per piece of chicken sold. He traveled to make sales pitches, often sleeping in his car and subsisting on the fried chicken he made during demos, to save money.
3. KFC Battled Mutant Chickens—And Won.
If you've scrolled Facebook and come across stories that KFC had created mutant chickens with six wings and eight legs, you've been duped—and three tech companies are paying for it. A Shanghai court fined the three companies roughly $191,000 for spreading the false story on social media, along with Photoshopped images of the birds, according to Reuters.
4. Someone Paid $21,510 to Take the Suit Off the Colonel's Back.
When Colonel Sanders' iconic white suit and black Western bow tie went up for auction, Masao Watanabe jumped at the chance to take it home, shelling out more than $20,000 for it. It was a fitting purchase, considering he's the president and chief executive of KFC Japan.
"Every child in Japan knows Colonel Sanders' face and his uniform," Watanabe told The Associated Press. He immediately tried the suit on after buying it, and said he'd display it at a restaurant in Tokyo, so others could revel in its pressed, bright white glory.
5. KFC Gave Carson Daly a Truly One-of-a-Kind Gift.
Celebrities are given all kinds of free swag, but the gift the Colonel bestowed upon Today show host Carson Daly is on a totally different level. The chain sent him a pair of Chicken nugget cufflinks after Daly joked that the brand, which was selling $20 drumstick corsages for prom, should offer a dressy option for guys.
6. There's an Entire Museum Devoted to the Colonel.
When you make like Britney Spears and plan your Crossroads-style, coming-of-age road trip with your besties this summer, you might want to make a pit stop in Corbin, KY. It's where you can find the Sanders Café, the restaurant that predates the fast food chain, and its attached museum, where you can learn all about Harland Sanders' history (before the café, he set up shop in a Shell gas station, serving people off of his dining table, which he carted into the store).
You can also pose next to a statue of the Colonel, scope out some sweet vinyl albums featuring the brand (Christmas Eve with Colonel Sanders sing-along, anyone?) and gawk at the kitchen where Sanders came up with his pressure-frying method of cooking.
7. KFC's Deliciousness Was Once Seriously Lost in Translation.
When Kentucky Fried Chicken advertised its meals in China, its "finger lickin' good" slogan was accidentally translated as "We'll eat your fingers off." Somehow, the image of a cashier going all Hannibal Lector on your digits seems ... not delish. Go figure.
8. The Chain Has Tested Much Crazier Foods Than the Double Down.
Using two boneless chicken breasts to sandwich cheese and bacon was just the beginning. Since then, KFC has tested—and released in select markets—such wonders as Funnel Cake Fries, Deep-Fried Soup, Mac and Cheese Bites, and two new uses for its chicken: as a hot dog bun and as the crust for a pizza (or "chizza").
9. The Colonel Has His Own Comic Book.
He battled his evil doppelganger from Earth-3, Colonel Sunder, with the help of The Flash and Green Lantern, in The Colonel of Two Worlds, a limited-edition comic book distributed at New York Comic Con this past year. Earlier that year, he starred in another comic at San Diego Comic-Con, but he's far from a newbie in battling lookalike evil-doers—Colonel Sanders also starred in a 1960s comic book where he foiled an imposter from stealing his secret recipe.
10. Sanders Shot a Man Over a Business Dispute.
When Sanders painted a sign directing people to his Shell station—the very same one where he first started selling his fried chicken—it riled up the owner of a nearby gas station, Matt Stewart, who promptly painted over it. Sanders painted back over it, and it wasn't long before Stewart headed back to the sign to cover it back up. Draaaama!
As soon as Sanders heard his rival was painting over his sign for a second time, he and two colleagues decided to catch them in the act. A gun fight ensued, which killed one of Sanders' coworkers. Sanders shot Stewart in the shoulder, Entrepreneur reports. (He also frequently cheated on his wife and is not actually a military colonel, according to the website. He was named an honorary colonel by the state of Kentucky in 1935.)
You can find a recreation of the fight on KFC's website.
11. You Can't Get Sanders' Original Gravy Recipe Anymore.
The Colonel prided himself on making a sauce that was so insatiably good you'd "throw away the durn chicken and just eat the gravy," but the recipe was so complicated, time-consuming and expensive to make that executives nixed it in favor of a simpler recipe, the New Yorker reports.
Even though Sanders sold the chain in 1964, that didn't stop him from occasionally visiting KFCs and sampling the gravy, offering Gordon Ramsay-caliber critiques, like, "How do you serve this God-d*mned slop? With a straw?"
12. Many Different Men Have Been the Colonel
Though Sanders passed away in 1980, a caricature of the founder lives on, with comedians like Darrell Hammond, Norm MacDonald and Jim Gaffigan playing him in ads.
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