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Chick-fil-A

File:Chick-fil-A.svg
Company type	Private
Industry	Restaurants
Founded	1946 (first Dwarf House opened in Hapeville, Georgia) 1967 (first Chick-fil-A opened in Atlanta, Georgia)
Headquarters	College Park, Georgia, U.S.
Key people	S. Truett Cathy, Chairman, CEO Dan T. Cathy, President, COO
Products	Sandwiches, chicken entrées
Revenue	US$4.0 billion (2011)
Website	chick-fil-a.com

Chick-fil-A (referring to "fillet") is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of College Park, Georgia, United States, specializing in chicken entrées. Long associated with the Southern United States, where it has been a cultural icon, the chain has expanded. As of April 2012, Chick-fil-A has 1,614 restaurants in 39 states and the District of Columbia, and is focusing future growth in the American Midwest, the Philippines, Mexico and Southern California. The corporate culture is heavily influenced by its founder's Christian beliefs; unlike the vast majority of fast food franchises, Chick-fil-A is closed for business on Sunday.

History

The chain grew from the Dwarf Grill (later the Dwarf House, a name still used by the chain), a restaurant opened by S. Truett Cathy, who is still the company's chairman, in the Atlanta, Georgia suburb of Hapeville in 1946. This restaurant is near a now-demolished Ford plant, where some workers ate between shifts.

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 popular quick-serve or fast-food chicken sandwich.

The first Chick-fil-A opened in 1967 in the food court of the Greenbriar Mall, in a suburb of Atlanta. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the chain continued to grow by opening many new franchises in the privatized space of suburban malls' food courts. The first freestanding franchise opened in 1986. The company subsequently focused more on such franchises rather than food courts, and has expanded from its original geographic base, although most new restaurants are located in Southern suburban areas. As of 2012, the chain has approximately 1000 stand-alone locations. It also has 32 drive-through-only locations. Chick-fil-A also can be found at universities, hospitals, and airports through licensing agreements.

Since 1994, the Atlanta-based company has been the title sponsor of the Peach Bowl, an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta. Beginning in the 2006 season, the Peach Bowl became the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Chick-fil-A also is a key sponsor of the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 conferences of college athletics.

Business model

Chick-fil-A uses a model significantly different from other restaurant franchises, notably in retaining ownership of each restaurant. Chick-fil-A selects the restaurant location, builds it, and pays the rent, while retaining ownership. Whereas franchisees from competing chains need about $2 million to operate a franchise, Chick-fil-A franchisees need only a $5,000 initial investment to become an operator. The company gets 10,000-25,000 applications from potential franchise operators for 60-70 slots they open each year. Chick-fil-A gets a larger share of revenue from its franchises than other chains, but the formula works well for operators — franchisees make an average of $190,000 per year. In 2010 Chick-fil-A took the industry lead in average sales per restaurant, making an average of $2.7 million per restaurant in 2010 (McDonald's was second with $2.4 million per restaurant).

Advertising

"Eat mor chikin" is the chain's most prominent advertising slogan, created by the The Richards Group in 1995. The slogan is often seen in advertisements, featuring cows that are often seen wearing (or holding) signs that read: "Eat mor chikin" in all capital letters. According to Chick-fil-A's advertising strategies, the cows have united in an effort to reform American food, in an effort to reduce the amount of beef that is eaten. They wish the American public to refrain from eating beef burgers, common at Chick-fil-A's competitors, such as McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's, and instead focus on eating chicken. The ad campaign was temporarily halted during a mad cow disease scare on January 1, 2004 so as not to make the chain seem insensitive or appear to be taking advantage of the scare to increase its sales. Two months later, the cows were put up again. The cows replaced the chain's old mascot, Doodles, an anthropomorphized chicken who still appears as the C on the logo.

Chick-fil-A vigorously protects its intellectual property, sending cease and desist letters to those they think have infringed on their trademarks. The corporation has successfully protested at least 30 instances of the use of an "eat more" phrase, saying that the use would cause confusion of the public, dilute the distinctiveness of their intellectual property, and diminish its value. A 2011 letter to Vermont artist Bo Muller-Moore who screen prints t-shirts reading: "Eat More Kale" demanded that he cease printing the shirts and turn over his website. The incident has drawn criticism from Vermont governor Peter Shumlin and has created backlash against Chick-fil-A's "corporate bullying."

Sponsored events

Chick-fil-A Classic

The Chick-fil-A Classic is a high school basketball tournament held in Columbia, South Carolina. The tournament is in its eighth year of operation and features nationally ranked players and teams. The tournament is co-sponsored by the Greater Columbia Educational Advancement Foundation (GCEAF) which provides scholarships to high school seniors in the greater Columbia area.

Chick-fil-A Bowl

Formerly known as the Peach Bowl, the Chick-fil-A Bowl is a college football bowl game played each year in Atlanta, Georgia between teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference.

Chick-fil-A College Kickoff

The Chick-fil-A College Kickoff is an annual early-season college football game played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. It features two highly ranked teams, one of which has always been from the Southeastern Conference. Starting with the 2012 season, the event will be expanded to two games.

Chick-fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America

The Chick-fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America is an annual charity motorcycle tour to raise money for, among other charities, the Victory Junction Gang Camp for terminally ill children.

Related restaurants

The Hapeville Dwarf House

Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant, The Dwarf Grill — later renamed the Dwarf House — in Hapeville, Georgia, in 1946 and developed the pressure-cooked chicken breast sandwich there. At the original Chick-fil-A Dwarf Grill, in addition to the full-size entrances, there is also an extra small-sized front door. The original Dwarf House in Hapeville, Georgia is open 24 hours a day, six days a week, except on Sundays, when it closes at 4 a.m. on Sunday mornings and reopens at 6 a.m. on Monday mornings. It has a larger dine-in menu than the other Dwarf House locations as well as an animated seven dwarfs display in the back of the restaurant.

Dwarf House

Truett's original, full-service restaurants offer an extensive menu and provide customers a choice of table service, walk-up counter service or a drive-thru window. Eleven Chick-fil-A Dwarf House restaurants currently operate in the metro Atlanta area.

Truett's Grill

In 1996, the first Truett's Grill was opened in Morrow, Georgia. The second location opened in 2003 in McDonough, Georgia, and a third location opened in 2006 in Griffin, Georgia. Similar to the Chick-fil-A Dwarf Houses, these independently owned restaurants offer traditional, sit-down dining and expanded menu selections in a diner-themed atmosphere. One major difference to other Chick-fil-A restaurants, however, is the fact that beef products are served there, including steaks and hamburgers.

Corporate culture

S. Truett Cathy is a devout Southern Baptist; his religious beliefs have a major impact on the company. The company's official statement of corporate purpose says that the business exists "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A."

Cathy's beliefs are also responsible for one of the chain's distinctive features: All Chick-fil-A locations (company-owned and franchised, whether in a mall or freestanding) are closed on Sundays, as well as on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Cathy states as the final step in his Five-Step recipe for Business Success "I was not so committed to financial success that I was willing to abandon my principles and priorities. One of the most visible examples of this is our decision to close on Sunday. Our decision to close on Sunday was our way of honoring God and of directing our attention to things that mattered more than our business."

In an interview with ABC News's Nightline, Truett's son Dan Cathy told reporter Vicki Mabrey that another reason why the company is closed on Sundays, was because "by the time Sunday came, he was just worn out. And Sunday was not a big trading day, anyway, at the time. So he was closed that first Sunday and we've been closed ever since. He figured if he didn't like working on Sundays, that other people didn't either." The younger Cathy quoted his father as saying, "I don't want to ask people to do that what I am not willing to do myself."

Controversy regarding same-sex marriage stance

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In January 2011, the media reported that Chick-fil-A was co-sponsoring a marriage conference along with the Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI), an organization that has opposed same-sex marriage legislation in California and Pennsylvania. Chick-fil-A explained the PFI retreat support, stating "one of our independent Restaurant Operators in Pennsylvania was asked to provide sandwiches to two Art of Marriage video seminars." The WinShape Foundation also stated it would not allow same-sex couples to participate in its marriage retreats. Chick-fil-A has donated millions to the WinShape Foundation, which then gave millions to groups including Focus on the Family and Eagle Forum that are politically active in opposing same-sex marriage and other gay rights issues. In response, students at several colleges and universities formed grassroots efforts to ban or remove the company's restaurants from their campuses.

In June and July 2012, Chick-fil-A COO Dan Cathy made several public statements supporting traditional marriage, saying that those who "have the audacity to define what marriage is about" were "inviting God's judgment on our nation". Several prominent politicians expressed disapproval. Boston mayor Thomas Menino and Chicago alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno said they hoped to block franchise expansion into their areas. The proposed bans drew criticism from liberal pundits, legal experts and the American Civil Liberties Union. In response to Dan Cathy's comments, the Jim Henson Company, which had entered its Pajanimals in a kids' meal toy licensing arrangement in 2011, said that it would cease its business relationship with Chick-fil-A, and donate payment for the brand to Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Citing safety concerns, Chick-fil-A stopped distributing the toys. A spokeswoman stated the decision had been made July 19 and was unrelated to the controversy.

In response to criticism of the Cathy family's support for "traditional marriage," politician Mike Huckabee created the counter-protest for August 1 called "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day." Many stores reported historic sales for the event.

Lawsuit over cancer risk

In 2006 a lawsuit was brought by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine against McDonald's, Applebee's, Outback Steakhouse, Chili's, T.G.I. Friday's, Burger King and Chick-fil-A. The organization asserted that cooking certain meats, including chicken, at high temperatures causes the meat to contain the chemical PhIP, a compound which had caused cancer in lab rats and mice. A 2009 ruling for the defendants was followed by an August 2010 appeal decided in favor of the plaintiffs. The matter has not been legally resolved and is still before the courts of California.

References

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External links

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