KFC founder Colonel Sanders’ home and memorabilia are up for auction — with a planner that may contain his secret recipe
A piece of fast food history is up for auction in Shelbyville, Kentucky.
Blackwood Hall, the longtime home of KFC founder Colonel Harland Sanders and his wife, Claudia Sanders, is up for sealed-bid auction by The Menish Group until July 31. The home is listed alongside Claudia Sanders Dinner House, a restaurant the couple operated on the property.
The couple moved to Blackwood Hall in 1959, seven years after Colonel Sanders began franchising his fried-chicken recipe, and made the property KFC’s headquarters. Sanders sold KFC in 1964, but the couple remained in the restaurant business, opening the Dinner House on the property in 1968 and selling it to family friends in 1974.
A separate auction on Tuesday also offers the chance to bid on KFC memorabilia, including Sanders’ original Kentucky Colonel certificate and a letter from President Richard Nixon.
Perhaps most intriguingly, it also features Colonel Sanders’ personal planner from 1964, which contains an unlabeled recipe with 11 herbs and spices. Could it be KFC’s secret recipe, which Sanders is credited with formulating?
Auctioneer Bill Menish of The Menish Group told Business Insider that it’s up to the buyer to determine that.
“Can we tell you this is the secret recipe? We absolutely cannot,” he said. “Isn’t it extremely ironic, though, that at the back of his 1964 day planner, he absolutely listed 11 herbs and spices and the quantities required if you were to use those herbs and spices, he just didn’t write down what it was or what it was for?”
The planner recipe has prompted speculation in the past. KFC examined it during an earlier legal dispute but said the ingredients did not align with its secret recipe and could instead be for stuffing, the Associated Press reported.
Take a look inside Colonel and Claudia Sanders’ former home, as well as the items up for auction.
Blackwood Hall, the property where Colonel Sanders and his wife, Claudia Sanders, lived, is up for auction in Shelbyville, Kentucky.
Andrew Kung Group
Colonel and Claudia Sanders moved to the Shelbyville house in 1959, where they also relocated the KFC headquarters.
Andrew Kung Group
The couple lived at Blackwood Hall from 1959 until selling the property to family friends in 1974.
Andrew Kung Group
According to a 2022 listing, the property was last renovated in 1999.
Andrew Kung Group
In addition to the 5,000-square-foot home, the auction also includes Claudia Sanders Dinner House, which the couple opened in 1968.
Andrew Kung Group
Colonel and Claudia Sanders ran the restaurant until they retired in the 1970s, when they sold it to the Settles, their family friends.
Andrew Kung Group
Claudia Sanders Dinner House measures 25,000 square feet, and its various rooms and event spaces can seat nearly 700 guests combined.
Andrew Kung Group
The restaurant, which is still operational, is known for classic Southern food, including rolls and creamed spinach pies.
Andrew Kung Group
The restaurant includes multiple seating areas, a porch, and an upstairs bar.
Andrew Kung Group
The Menish Group is conducting a sealed-bid auction for the property, so there’s no price listed.
Andrew Kung Group
A separate auction includes other memorabilia that might be tempting to fans of the brand.
Andrew Kung Group
It includes a 1972 letter from President Nixon to Colonel Sanders, thanking him for how he “contributed to one of the greatest landslides in American political history.”
Andrew Kung Group
Colonel Sanders’ original Kentucky Colonel certificate is also part of the auction.
Andrew Kung Group
An item of particular note is Colonel Sanders’ personal planner, which contains a mysterious recipe of 11 herbs and spices.
The Menish Group
“Once somebody owns it, I recommend they go make a batch of chicken and see what they think,” auctioneer Bill Menish told Business Insider.
The Menish Group