Chick-fil-A, Inc.

What does Chick-fil-A, Inc. own?

The company owns the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain, the real estate under most of its locations, and a small set of concepts including the Daybright beverage restaurant and several Truett's-branded restaurants in Georgia. It also funds the WinShape Foundation.

Is Chick-fil-A publicly traded?

No. Chick-fil-A, Inc. is privately held and entirely family-owned. CEO Andrew Cathy has stated clearly that the company will not pursue an IPO or outside investment.

Who founded Chick-fil-A?

S. Truett Cathy founded the company in 1946, starting with a Hapeville, Georgia, diner called the Dwarf Grill. The first restaurant under the Chick-fil-A name opened in Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall in 1967.

Where is Chick-fil-A headquartered?

The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, where it has been based since its founding.

Who owns Chick-fil-A?

The Cathy family owns the company outright. Andrew Cathy is CEO, his father Dan Cathy is chairman, and no outside investors hold equity. Ownership passes through the family across three generations.

How many restaurants does Chick-fil-A have?

Approximately 3,300 locations as of late 2026, including about 2,863 franchised and corporate U.S. restaurants plus more than 400 licensed units and a growing number of international locations in Canada, the UK, and Singapore.

Why is Chick-fil-A closed on Sundays?

Founder Truett Cathy established the policy in 1946 based on his religious conviction that employees should have a day of rest. The company has maintained it for 80 years and says it will never change.

S. Truett Cathy and his brother Ben opened the Dwarf Grill, a small diner in Hapeville, Georgia, in 1946, serving workers from the nearby Ford plant. Cathy ran the diner for two decades before developing the boneless pressure-fried chicken sandwich that became the company's signature product. He trademarked Chick-fil-A in 1963.

The first Chick-fil-A restaurant opened in 1967 inside Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall, pioneering the mall food court format. The company grew through shopping centers across the Southeast in the 1970s and 1980s, then shifted to freestanding drive-thru locations beginning in the 1990s. The 1995 "Eat Mor Chikin" cow campaign, created by the Richards Group, gave the brand national identity.

Dan Cathy, Truett's son, took over leadership in the 2000s and expanded the chain beyond its Southern base into the Northeast, Midwest, and West. By 2015, Chick-fil-A passed KFC as the top U.S. chicken chain by sales despite having a fraction of the locations, a reflection of its industry-leading unit volumes.

Andrew Cathy became CEO in November 2021, the third generation of the family to run the company. His tenure has focused on international expansion and new formats. The company committed $1 billion to international growth, opened permanent restaurants in the United Kingdom and Singapore in 2025, continued building in Canada, and launched the Daybright beverage concept.

The company's 2025 franchise disclosure showed 179 net new franchised and corporate restaurants, total U.S. system sales of $23.92 billion, and median annual volumes of about $9.09 million for freestanding restaurants, figures unmatched at scale in the industry.

The company publishes periodic updates on its corporate social responsibility work but does not hold major third-party certifications such as B Corp status. Its principal areas of activity:

Sourcing: Chick-fil-A requires chicken raised without antibiotics important to human medicine, a standard it tightened from a looser "no antibiotics ever" commitment in 2024, citing supply realities. It sources coffee through sustainability programs and reports progress on cage-free egg commitments.

Community: The WinShape Foundation, funded with company profits, operates camps, scholarships, marriage programs, and the WinShape Homes foster care network. The company also runs a $25 million scholarship program for restaurant team members.

Environment: The company reports work on packaging reduction, energy-efficient restaurant design, and food donation through its Shared Table program, which redirects surplus food to local charities. These are company-reported efforts rather than independently audited certifications.

The chain has ranked first in fast-food customer satisfaction in the American Customer Satisfaction Index for more than ten consecutive years, an independent benchmark it advertises heavily. It regularly appears on Glassdoor and Indeed workplace rankings, and QSR Magazine ranks it near the top of its annual chain performance reports on unit economics. Founder Truett Cathy received the Horatio Alger Award and numerous business honors before his death in 2014.

LGBTQ Donation History: The company's most sustained controversy stems from donations through WinShape and the Cathy family's public positions on marriage. After Dan Cathy's 2012 comments supporting traditional marriage, the company faced boycotts, political backlash, and airport and campus location disputes. In 2019 it ended funding to the Salvation Army and Fellowship of Christian Athletes, redirecting giving to hunger and homelessness. Criticism has continued periodically, but the company has not reversed its positions.

Antibiotic Policy Reversal: In 2024 the company moved from a "No Antibiotics Ever" chicken standard to "No Antibiotics Important To Human Medicine," a change critics called a rollback. The company framed it as a supply-availability adjustment, and no regulatory action followed.

Labor: Individual franchised locations have faced occasional wage and scheduling complaints, legally the responsibility of Operators. The corporation has not faced material labor penalties as of late 2026.