Every time I unpack a shipment of “99-X” chicken seasoning that comes into our office for The Pines, my mind goes back to a surprise visit a man paid me back in the early 80’s…
I was very young, about 23. It was unusual for me to be working in the office but Mom and Dad were gone and I was answering the phone. A phone call came in for “Joe” my father. The phone call went something like this;
“Hello, Thank You for calling The Pines, may I help you?”
(”Yes, is Joe Hall in?”)
“No, sir, Mr. Hall is not here but this is Mike, his son, can I help you?”
(”Well, that’s fine Mike, really you are the one I want to talk to. My name is Bill Summers. I have the spice company over here in Brownstown and I would like to come over and talk to you. Do you have some time to spend with me?”)
Now, I had no idea who was on the other end of the line but he knew Dad, seemed nice, and he wanted to see ME !!!
“Sure,” I said, “I would be glad to talk with you, Mr. Summers!”
Mr. Summers said he would leave right away and would arrive in less than half an hour. Now, from Brownstown that meant he would have to hang up the phone, jump in his car, and drive straight over here. “What in the world could be so important that he needed to get here so quickly..to see ME?” I asked myself.
Just as he promised the man arrived in half an hour. An average looking medium height man shook my hand and introduced himself as Bill Summers the owner of Marion Kay Spice Company. Mr. Summers asked if we could sit down and talk he had some things he wanted to tell me.
I felt awkward. Here is a man that is older than my father by several years and wanted to see me because he had some important things to tell me. I didn’t know what to do but escort Mr. Summers into my father’s office and let him sit down in one of the brown stuffed leather chairs that faced my father’s large walnut desk. I sat behind the desk, still feeling uncomfortable. It didn’t seem right that a man of his age and stature should be sitting on the “presentation” side of a desk. I felt that it should be the other way around and Mr. Summers should be sitting behind a big desk with me on the “hot seat”.
The Pines and our family have had a long affiliation with Colonel Sanders and Kentucky Fried Chicken. My father bought a franchise on a handshake deal back in 1964 and personally knew the Colonel. Mr. Summers asked about my father and our KFC restaurant. He then turned his conversation to Colonel Sanders and the friendship Mr. Summers and the Colonel developed.
Colonel Sanders continued mixing seasonings after he had sold Kentucky Fried Chicken. The Colonel was mixing different blends of spices and having some difficulties blending in volume amounts. A friend told the Colonel to visit this guy that has that Marion Kay Spice Company over in Brownstown Indiana. The Colonel was told that not only did this guy have some of the best spices in the world, he had the equipment to blend in volume.
So began the relationship of Marion Kay (Bill) Summers with Colonel Harland Sanders. The Colonel would make frequent trips to Brownstown to visit Mr. Summers. They blended spices together and developed some blends that Marion Kay still sells today.
One day the Colonel came to visit Mr. Summers and brought some of the Kentucky Fried Chicken seasoning with him. Colonel Sanders was not happy with the way the seasoning was tasting. The Colonel had sold the business a few years back and the Colonel suspected the present owners had changed something about the seasoning mix. The Colonel left a package of the present day blend of the famous 11 herbs and spices and gave Mr. Summers a challenge; try and figure out what is in the famous blend of herbs and spices.
Mr. Summers told me how he spread the seasoning out on a piece of paper and started taking inventory of the ingredients by eye sight, smell, and taste. Mr. Summers not only figured out the “secret” recipe but figured out what inferior spices had been substituted for spices that were probably of better quality back in the day when the Colonel himself was doing the blending. Mr. Summers blended an “improved” batch of the secret recipe and waited for the Colonel to return.
Colonel Sanders came back to visit Mr. Summers the next week. That day the Colonel and Mr. Summers were going to cook and compare chicken. The Colonel brought “Bertha”, his favorite pressure cooker. It was the Colonel’s famous pressure cooker; a big aluminum pressure pot that the Colonel had used in developing Kentucky Fried Chicken years earlier and now sits in the Colonel Sanders Museum in Louisville Ky.
The two men breaded some pieces of chicken. Toothpicks were used to distinguish which chicken was Mr. Summers and which was the Colonels. The chicken was browned, “capped”, and cooked for the standard 11 minutes the original process called for. At the end of the cook time the pressure was relieved and the chicken was placed on wire rack to drain and cool. Now it was time to try the pieces of chicken…
For those that knew Colonel Harland Sanders, the Colonel was an outspoken, colorful, emotional man. He spoke his mind and didn’t hold back any details or colorful expletives that he felt needed expressing. When the Colonel took a bite out of Mr. Summers chicken, the Colonel slammed his fist down on the breading table. Breading flour and utensils went flying as the Colonel let loose with some of his famous expletives. “This is the way it used to taste!!!” said the Colonel.
Mr.Summers had not only “cracked” the secret of the 11 herbs and spices but had improved it back to the original version. Colonel Sanders was so impressed and, therefore, left Mr. Summers with the new formula for use in the Marion Kay Company.
Mr. Summers explained to me when spreading out the spice mixture the Colonel had given him several spices immediately stood out for identification. A few others he had to give some thought and study. The one ingredient that Mr. Summers felt won the Colonel over was the superior black pepper that was available to Mr. Summers. Mr. Summers called the pepper the “Tellicherry Pepper”. He told me the pepper was probably what the Colonel had used originally. Mr. Summers said the ingredients had slightly changed probably due to availability. He said there wasn’t enough Tella Cherry Pepper in the whole world to supply a major chain like Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Mr. Summers had the Colonels Original Recipe seasoning; or something very close. Actually, Mr. Summers had, what he felt, was a superior version. Mr. Summers thought that 99% of the recipe was the Colonels and a Mr. Summers secret change was the remaining 1% of the new blend. So he named his new commercial blend of chicken seasoning “99-X”.
In the years to come the Colonel was not happy with the new owners of Kentucky Fried Chicken. It is alleged the Colonel even told some KFC franchisees if they wanted their chicken to taste good again they need to buy 99-X from Marion Kay.
Enough franchisees started buying Mr. Summers version that the present owners of KFC back then, Heublein Inc., filed a lawsuit against Mr. Summers. In retaliation Mr. Summer filed a lawsuit back. Mr. Summers told me how much contempt he had for these corporate “idiots” and how little character they possessed. Mr. Summers said after several years of the lawsuit KFC Corp made some concessions. Mr. Summers told me they “Threw the dog a bone in hopes it would go away”, “but I didn’t” he said, “I’m still here.”
Mr. Summers asked me all about our business and our family relationships. We talked a bit more and Mr. Summers thanked me for my time and left. He thanked ME for my time!!!
The aging man bid me farewell and politely left our office. I had never seen this man before that day or did I ever meet him again. Being a naive 23 year old, I did not really understand the real reason Mr. Summers had made the visit that day.
A few years later Mr. Summers passed away. It took me a few years to understand the depth of what had happened that day.
Mr. Summers knew our family as independent restaurant operators, our years of affiliation with Kentucky Fried Chicken, and our personal relationship with Colonel Sanders. Mr. Summers had a story to share and he wanted to share his story with someone from the new generation. In a way, Mr. Summers was “passing the torch’ that day. He knew he was an aging man and wanted to give his story to someone young so the story would live on.
So, every time that special delivery of fragrant spices comes to our office door, I remember the day a special man paid me a visit and gave me a gift I will remember for the rest of my life. Looking back, I wish I could somehow do him honor and thank him,..
But then again, maybe I just did…

