Church's Texas ChickenHis use of the words “Original Recipe” in his advertising has been hard for the colonel to swallow.
KFC filed a lawsuit after claiming a letter they sent on Oct. 24 objecting to Church ads boasting “our original recipe is back” was ignored.
reports CNN that the phrase “original recipe” has been used by KFC for more than 50 years. The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Texas, notes that the wording is “likely to create confusion in the marketplace and dilute the ORIGINAL RECIPE® Brand.”
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As many of us know, KFC's “Original Recipe” is a secret blend of 11 herbs and spices. KFC calls Their blend is one of the “most iconic trade secrets in the food industry” and first trademarked the phrase in 1984.
Church's hasn't commented on the lawsuit, but a KFC spokesperson released a statement — and it was pretty scathing: “On behalf of all the fried chicken lovers out there, we take it personally when another company tries to claim the taste and our iconic brand as their own.”
Make no mistake, Colonel Sanders is ready for war.
KFC was ranked 12th 2024 Franchise 500 list. This is a point more than a year ago.
The church has 786 locations in the USA
Related: 10 surprising ways KFC's innovation and marketing have propelled the brand to worldwide success