Colonel: Recipe Still Intact 70 Years Later at Murrieta KFC

Santas come about a dime a dozen, but there are only four Colonel Sanders in the U.S. who are in charge of making sure KFC franchises are sticking to the original recipe minted by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1939.

Don Rudolph, the 82-year-old (real) Colonel for Southern California KFCs, surprised customers Wednesday when he popped out of the drive-thru window in Murrieta, handing them their lunch order.

Prior to that, he watched over the arduous task resident chef Froylan Ceja has of preparing the flour mixture used to coat the chicken.

"This whole brand is built around this original recipe," said Neil Thomas, a supervisor for his father Ed Thomas, who owns 20 franchises in Southern California.

His father has worked for KFC since before the 29-year-old Thomas was born, and yet neither know the recipe, nor does anyone except one appointed recipe holder. The secret seasoning, a blend of 11 herbs and spices, is prepared at three separate locations, and then combined into one to send out to franchises. It comes in a plainly marked package.

But a lot more goes into the chicken than just the seasoning, Thomas said. Stores get inspected at least four times a year to ensure they are following company standards. The flour mixture is sifted daily, and includes a blend of the secret seasoning, flour, milk and eggs and a breading mix. Fresh--not frozen--marinated chicken is delivered to stores three times a week and stored, he said.

"If it isn't done right, it makes a huge impact on our food," Thomas said.

The Colonel's stop in Murrieta was one of 25 throughout Southern California this month to mark Colonel Sanders' 120th birthday. Sanders was born in Indiana in 1890 and died in Louisville, Ky. in 1980. While he was a U.S. Marine as a young man, the title of Kentucky Colonel was given to him by the Kentucky governor in 1935.

Rudolph has been enjoying his stint as the Southern California Colonel for about three years now. He was approached for the gig while working in one of the franchise offices.

"Don has studied up on (the Colonel's) life," said Tom Meyer, a media representative for KFC. "Every where we take him, he just gets mobbed. People know the Colonel. And the cooks are like the drummers in the band, they don't get enough attention for what they do."