Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A (CHIK-fil-AY, a play on the US pronunciation of "fillet") is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of College Park, Georgia, specializing in chicken sandwiches. Founded in 1946, it has more than 1,850 restaurants, mainly in the southeastern United States.

The company's culture is influenced by its founder's Southern Baptist beliefs. All Chick-fil-A restaurants are closed for business on Sunday.

History

The chain's origin can be traced to the Dwarf Grill (now the Dwarf House), a restaurant opened by S. Truett Cathy, the chain's former Chairman and CEO, in 1946. The restaurant is located in Hapeville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, and is near the location of the now-demolished Ford Motor Company Atlanta Assembly Plant, for many years a source of many of the restaurant's patrons.

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. Following this discovery, he registered the name Chick-fil-A, Inc. The company's current trademarked slogan, "We Didn't Invent the Chicken, Just the Chicken Sandwich," refers to their flagship menu-item, the Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich.