Even some of the first franchise's original pressure cookers will be on display. Of course, now the pressure cookers are computerized. "Everything is regulated so it ensures the quality product time after time after time," Jackson said.

"That was one of Colonel Sanders' secrets," Jackson said. "He was one of the first people to actually cook chicken in a pressure cooker."

Sanders perfected his technique in the late 1930s and sold his food to patrons of his service station in Corbin, Ky. A Kentucky governor bestowed on Sanders the honorific "colonel."

Sanders died in 1980 at the age of 80.

Harman, now 85 and living in Los Altos, is expected at the grand opening of the new Salt Lake restaurant, Jackson said.

Because of the Salt Lake establishment's special status in fried-chicken history, it remains a franchise of Harman's KFC. All the others are clients of Yum! Brands Inc.; Taco Bell and Pizza Hut also are under the Yum! Brands umbrella.

The recipe for the colonel's secret blend of 11 herbs and spices remains locked in a vault at KFC headquarters in Louisville, Ky.

In Salt Lake City, Gingell said he hopes to be open for business again in 90 days, in time to celebrate the Aug. 4 anniversary of the original agreement between Harman and Sanders.

"The handshake between Pete Harmon and Colonel Sanders took place in 1952, so 52 years later, we want to celebrate our grand re-opening," Gingell said. "We'll be back, bigger and better than ever."

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E-mail: jnii@desnews.com