Best Kept Secrets

The Formula for Coca-Cola

The formula for Coca-Cola is so fiercely protected that the company pulled out of India in the 1970s because they would have been legally required to divulge their ingredient list to their government.

It even managed to stall a divorce case. When one of the Coke heirs ended his marriage to his wife, she demanded some of his great-grandfather's (the founder of Coca-Cola) original notes as part of her settlement. The company had to get involved and put a stop to it out of fear the notes could contain information on the formula.

Only two Coke executives know it. Urban legend says they each only know half, but that's false--that part was invented for an old ad campaign.

The original copy of the formula is kept in an undisclosed SunTrust Bank in Atlanta. To keep SunTrust on the side, Coke gave them some 48.3 million shares of stock as well as having executives from each company sit on the other's board of directors.




KFC's 11 Herbs and Spices

The secret KFC recipe dates back to the 1930s when Harland Sanders served chicken to people who stopped at his gas station in North Corbin, Kentucky. It was an amazing success.

And while he never joined the military, in 1936, he was given the title of honorary Kentucky Colonel by the governor in recognition of his contribution to the state's cuisine.

As with Coke, only two executives have access to the recipe for KFC's 11 herbs and spices.

The recipe is at KFC's headquarters. But unless you are Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, you have no chance of getting it.

Here is security expert Bo Dietl explaining how the recipe is protected:

"The ceiling and the floor are secured with concrete bricks two feet thick. We put in motion sensors also CCTV that's hooked up to security downstairs. They have 24/7 armed guys downstairs, so in the amount of 30 seconds you'll have somebody up here. Once in here, you have to have two people with two keys and two different PIN numbers, and that's what you have to have. This safe is bolted down and there is no way anybody can get in here unauthorized without us knowing about it."