Chick-fil-A History: Founding, Timeline, And Milestones - Zippia

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Chick-fil-A company history timeline

6,245 Chick-fil-A jobs1949

In 1949, Ben Cathy was killed in a plane crash along with a third brother, Horace.

1951

Now Truett had to run Dwarf House on his own, and in 1951 he opened a second restaurant in the nearby town of Forest Park.

1961

In 1961, after 15 years in the fast food business, Cathy found a pressure-fryer that could cook the chicken sandwich in the same amount of time it took to cook a fast-food hamburger.

1963

In 1963 Cathy decided to give them a name in order to market the product.

1971

But before the explosive growth of 1971-74, several key aspects of Chick-fil-A's corporate philosophy would develop.

1973

That's why since 1973, Chick-fil-A has given more than $35 million in college scholarships to Chick-fil-A restaurant team members wishing to pursue higher education.

1982

Cathy, who chose not to receive a salary in 1982 in order not to force a pay cut on employees, called a special meeting of the chain's executive committee.

1983

The program began in 1983, when he learned that Berry College in Rome, Georgia, would have to close down part of its campus that housed Berry Academy, for children in grades five through 12.

1985

Three years later, in 1985, Chick-fil-A introduced its Dwarf House line, named after the original restaurant, which offered customers a choice of sit-down family dining or carryout.

1986

The first freestanding location was opened April 16, 1986, on North Druid Hills Road in Atlanta, Georgia, and the company began to focus more on this stand-alone type unit rather than on the food court type.

1989

The fact of this steady repeat clientele engendered in Truett an awareness of what would become a key element of Chick-fil-A's success: as he stated it in his 1989 book It's Easier to Succeed Than to Fail, "Word of mouth in the food business is more important than any other source of advertising.

1994

The company has produced TV commercials, print ads and highway billboards since 1994 with cows holding up signs that say, "Eat More Chicken," or rather, "EAT MOR CHIKIN," suggesting that cows might have trouble with spelling.

1995

Before the "Eat mor Chikin" cows, who debuted in 1995, the chicken that is still featured in the chain's logo was Chick-Fil-A's mascot.

1996

Starting with a 1996 LPGA golf tournament, the company has sponsored a number of sports activities, most notably the Peach Bowl football game, for which it signed a multiyear contract in 1996.

1997

Within six months, sales by the reinvigorated chain had increased by more than 40 percent, and "From that point on," Cathy recalled in 1997, "Chick-fil-A seemed to enjoy one success after another."

The "Eat Mor Chickin" advertising campaign, launched in 1997, became enormously successful.

Since 1997, the Atlanta-based company has been the title sponsor of the Peach Bowl, an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta on New Year's Eve.

2008

In 2008, Chick-fil-A became the first fast-food restaurant to become completely trans-fat free.

2012

He came out in opposition to same-sex marriage in 2012, and it turned out that his WinShape Foundation charity had funneled millions of dollars to political organizations that took a stand against gay rights.

Cathy backed down, with Chick-fil-A announcing in a 2012 statement, "Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena."

2013

Cathy’s family has continued his tradition of leadership, including his son Dan, who was appointed as the company’s CEO in 2013, and grandson Andrew, who serves as the current Chick-fil-A CEO.

2014

Cathy died at age 93 in September 2014.

In 2014 alone, Chick-fil-A served 121 million cups of lemonade, using 250 million lemons, making it the largest purchaser of Sunkist lemons in the entire world.

2015

In October 2015, the company opened a three-story 5,000 square feet (460 m) restaurant in Manhattan that became the largest free-standing Chick-fil-A in the country at that time.

2018

Continuing its founder’s legacy of generosity and service, in 2018 Chick-fil-A’s Remarkable Futures initiative awarded $14.65 million in scholarships to restaurant Team Members nationwide.

A leader in customer service satisfaction, consumers voted Chick-fil-A, Inc. #4 in Harris Poll’s annual corporate reputation survey, ranking the company 4th out of 100 in 2018.

2020

By 2020, Chick-fil-A is expected to become the third-largest fast-food chain, surpassing Wendy's, Taco Bell and Burger King, according to a recent report by Buzzfeed.

Work at Chick-fil-A?Share your experienceFounded1946HeadquartersAtlanta, GAFoundersAndrew T. Cathy,Truett CathyGet updates for jobs and news

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Chick-fil-A competitors

Company name	Founded date	Revenue	Employee size	Job openings
Burger King	1954	$2.3B	34,248	1,723
Wendy's	1969	$2.2B	12,500	3,741
Subway	1965	$16.1B	5,000	750
Pizza Hut	1958	$7.5B	350,000	11,677
McDonald's	1940	$25.9B	210,000	46,941
Quiznos	1981	$170.0M	1,500	-
Zax LLC	1990	$140.0M	2,500	-
Dairy Queen	1940	$3.6B	2,055	969
Denny's	1953	$452.3M	3,100	913
Taco Bell	1962	$2.0B	175,000	29,946

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Updated July 21, 2023

Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Chick-fil-A, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Chick-fil-A. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Chick-fil-A. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Chick-fil-A. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Chick-fil-A and its employees or that of Zippia.

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