Chick-fil-A bet on chicken 60 years ago. Now its Americas third largest restaurant chain

For decades, Chick-fil-A — with its iconic cow mascot — has encouraged Americans to skip hamburgers and instead “Eat Mor Chikin.”Today Chick-fil-A is the third-largest restaurant chain in the U.S.behind McDonald’s and Starbucks, with nearly $24 billion in sales last year.

Chick-fil-A also has around 3,000 locations around the world, having recently expanded to the U.K.and Singapore.But the global giant came from humble beginnings.“My grandfather grew up in extreme poverty,” CEO Andrew Cathy said in a recent interview for NBC News’ Business in America series.“He actually lived in the first government housing in the state of Georgia, and after the war, he decided to start a business with his brother Ben.

And they’re like, ‘We want a better life for ourselves,’” Cathy said.So Truett and Ben Cathy opened a diner called the Dwarf Grill in Hapeville, Georgia, in 1946.After a local supplier offered them big chicken breasts that had been rejected by Delta Air Lines, Truett developed the sandwich that eventually became the signature menu item of the first Chick-fil-A restaurant in 1967.Truett’s son Dan Cathy eventually took over the business from his father, and his son Andrew became CEO in 2021.

For 60 years, Chick-fil-A has remained a private, family-owned business — and Andrew Cathy says it plans to stay that way.But while much has changed at the company over the decades, its signature chicken sandwich has stayed consistent.“It’s still the same recipe that we’ve had since 1967,” Cathy said.As for what’s in the recipe, he said: “It’s a lot of good things.

Can’t tell you the details.”Faith in the businessBut certainly one of the company’s core ingredients has been the Cathy family’s Christian faith.Chick-fil-A has never been open on Sundays, a decision Cathy said his grandfather and great-uncle made many years ago.“It was very common back in the 1940s that a lot of places were closed on Sunday,” he said.

“They w...