My thoughts about Tommy and Cherry Settle and OUR beloved Diary...

1) We need to get Cherry's maiden name... for the timeline...
We can get the marriage license if someone likes to write to Kentucky...

2) Did the Settle's received "hush money" from the KFC Giant because
the Settles haven't said anything in years...? Why the silence?

3) Why did the Settle suddenly said (about the Diary) that the recipe
was a secret??? Again, hush money?

4) The Stuffing part was the funniest thing I heard in a long time...
kinda like a slap in the face towards the Settles... but Tommy
fought back!

5) Who paid the 3 Million restaraunt's rebuilt and restoration...?
from the hush money again...?

6) When did the Settles first meet the Colonel?

7) I could become a Billionaire Oil Driller and maybe put in a bid for the Diary... would they bite? lol

Who knows... when KFC returned the Diary back to the Settles,
who's to say that they didn't change something....?

Just alot of questions surrounding the Settle and that poor Diary...

Stay tuned to next week when...

Cherry opens the Diary again with her family and discovers
something juicier to tell the World!!!! lol

Ellsworth wrote:

Cherry opens the Diary again with her family and discovers something juicier to tell the World!!!! lol

LMAO!!! Something "jucier" than the "11 Herbs and Spices"? Is that possible?!

hehe... We must be on the same wavelength my friend, because I have asked myself these very questions as well!!!

Also, the Settles did hint that they were a bit on the "broke" side when it came to money, so why didn't they sell the diary to a collector like they initially wanted?

I guess the bottom line is that if it is true that the recipe the Settles found was not THE recipe of "11 Herbs & Spices" - AND knowing that the diary did indeed belong to Colonel Sanders - then WHY NOT reveal the list of spices in it?

Again: According to KFC it's NOT authentic, so what is the harm in revealing the list?

This is the question that keeps going round and round my head, and the ONLY conclusion I can draw is that they did indeed find THE recipe.

The Colonel

I read all the postings here about the Settles and their KFC related story. I found it a very, very interesting story. I don't know what the truth is but as a retired corporate attorney I can imagine how a number of things went down.

The KFC lawsuit against the Settles seemed like a harassment suit for the purpose of impressing upon them the cost of litigation and then later using that "inconvenience" ($$$) as leverage for a settlement, honorarium, or periodic stipend (they're call many things). I don't see any legal obligation on the part of the Settles not to divulge or disclose the Sander's document, nor a breach of any specific duty or public policy obligation, absent some form of agreement (i.e., contract) not to disclose. If anyone knows the secret formulation and have not otherwise obligated yourself, you are under no restrictions about what you say or do in regards to such as long as you represent such as your opinion or belief that the formulation is the one. But undoubtedly, the Settles could profit nicely with a nice arrangement with KFC (or whoever the corporate entity is).

The only possible obligation with the Settles could be if there was any specific non-disclosure provision of the purchase agreement for the Claudia Sanders restaurant, but I think that would be unlikely in regards to this diary or whatever this document is called. The book would be tantamount to an unanticipated bonanza that could not be reasonably anticipated and provided for in the purchase agreement. And in any event, KFC was probably not a party to that agreement. We don't seem to know much about the details of the lawsuit, however.

The Colonel's question is right on, though: According to KFC it's NOT authentic, so what is the harm in revealing the list?

No harm to the public, but it is likely that the Settles were financially induced to not disclose the information to anyone with an extensively written "locktight" confidential settlement agreement, of which I've written many. So the formulation may be closer to the truth than has been revealed or admitted, even in the light of the denials that it is real. I think it also likely that the original book was given back to KFC upon the Settle's signing an agreement. I think it likely that KFC had a facsimile of the book made up and given to the Settles for cover, but with totally inaccurate information in it. Of course the Settles would still have knowledge but no longer possess the hard proof. KFC is then happy and the Settles are happy ($$$). This is all purely speculative on my part, but knowing the corporate legal environment and its mindset, it is not an improbable scenario.

Incidentally, my wife and I dined one afternoon a number of years ago at Claudia Sanders restaurant and saw the white house in question in front of the restaurant. We had chicken dinners, but were somewhat disappointed in the meal and never had a desire to return whenever we traveled by that area, which is in the beautiful horse country of Kentucky with rolling hills, green grass, horse fences and all. While we were impressed with the area but not the chicken, many others that I know swear by the greatness of the chicken served at Claudia Sander's restaurant. They say Claudia's chicken is the closest thing to the original made by Harland Sanders himself. Maybe we just hit it on a bad day. (Website at

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My, my... this is an excellent post indeed Killian. Thank you very much for your valued - and valuable - input

We certainly have some great minds on this forum, and some life-experienced people at that! Sometimes a post is written that is truly "food for thought", and which makes me sit for ages just staring at the monitor... thinking...

This is one of those posts

Thank you my friend.

The Colonel

I keep thinking about what the Colonel and I talked about
when old Tommy Settle yelped out Ginger...

Could Ginger be proven as part of the eleven herbs and spices?

Ellsworth

Ells,

I tend to agree with you that Ginger might be a likely candidate. What bothers me is the vials of spices that KFC shows off, we know mustard is in there, but where is the ginger? Just got back from Disneyworld, im exhausted, I will try to cook some batches tomorrow. Oh I cooked the colonels last mix, but lowered the cardamon, it was really good.

Dustin

ddddyyyyy wrote:

I agree with Ellsworth

ddddyyyyy: You are most welcome here my friend, but please, do NOT spam the forum again with links to various commercial websites.

We hope you enjoy your stay

Delete him, its a new form of spam.

A bot program it posts 1 legit looking post. Then will dump a bunch of spam.

note the random username

kiwi wrote:

Delete him, its a new form of spam.

Thanks Kiwi my friend. "It" is gone... but I wonder how it knew to refer to "Ellsworth", a real forum member?

These spammers are getting more and more cunning.

Well... I don't know him! Most interesting indeed!

Ellsworth

A 2003 story from Everything2.com addresses U.S. Copyrights for recipes, specific to the Settles case.....Bruce

In other recipes rows of renown one centers around Colonel Sanders' secret recipe for his original Kentucky Fried Chicken. Harland Sanders came up with the famous recipe in the late 1930s for Sanders Court and Café, his roadside eatery in Corbin, Ky. Back then, the motel and restaurant business seated 142 people, by 1998 there were more than ten thousand Kentucky Fried Chicken stores with earnings around $20.6 billion.

In the 1970's Tommy and Cherry Settle purchased a white clapboard home from Colonel Sanders and discovered " a dusty, 1964 leather-bound date book in the basement of the home while sorting some old boxes." They alleged that in the book was a handwritten memo, purportedly by the Colonel, and it contained eleven herbs and spices in specific percentages. Wanting to sell it at an auction house the Settles contacted the Tricon Global Restaurant Corporation, which currently owns KFC to see if it was authentic. The corporate lawyers "took it very seriously" and filed a lawsuit to "protect the quality of our product." In January 2001 ABCNews.com reported:

"(Tricon) is fervent in its efforts to keep the recipe secret, (attorney) Melillo said. The company buys spices from different vendors, so no one vendor can ever add it all up.
KFC officials make the few employees who do know the recipe sign confidentiality agreements, and the company goes to court when the safety of the secret is threatened.

KFC sued the Settles to get the diary they thought contained the secret recipe. As the diary was seized and placed in a vault at the county courthouse in Shelbyville, lawyers informed the Settles that the recipe was "intellectual property" Tricon's intellectual property. The Settles also were warned to drop any plans to sell the recipe, or even reveal it.

"(It was) interesting that they put a lawsuit on us instead of just looking at the diary," said Tommy Settle.

Today, KFC officials looked at the diary and breathed easier and called off their attorneys.

"The original recipe is safely locked in our vault at KFC headquarters, and we did examine (the diary)," said Melillo.

"The Colonel's original recipe has 11 herbs and spices. This falls about five herbs and spices short. An interesting part of it (is)" it (the handwritten note) was in a diary dated 1964, and the colonel's original recipe was developed in 1939. So we're a few years off from it possibly being the secret recipe."

Is Colonel Sanders' famous recipe of eleven secret herbs and spices now in the public domain? Patent Cafe Magazine raised the question in their Patent Law & Policy Forum. One reply in part was:
"This is, of course, not a legal opinion, but I think the finders of the recipe are the owners of the recipe and the paper upon which it is written. The company's actions lend credence to the fact that this IS the true KFC recipe. The company would have been better off saying it is an early version of the recipe that was later developed into their successful business. "
No one can really know for sure. Tricon Global Restaurant Corporation could be bluffing and by leaving it up in the air for speculation it's probably the best strategy to protect their intellectual property.