Chick-fil-A Served Burgers??

Many people find it weird that Chick-fil-A's first restaurant, The Dwarf House, got its start selling burgers, steaks and fried chicken (on the bone). In the late 1950s, airlines began to serve chicken as their in-flight meal. There would be left over pieces because the chicken would have to be cut to fit the tray. Truett Cathy contacted the owners of a food company who supplied Delta Airlines and asked for the extra boneless chicken. Truett then began to experiment. He did consumer research by having customers try his fried, boneless chicken and give suggestions. After tweaking the recipe a couple of years, Truett was using over twenty ingredients and felt like he had a winning combination.

Truett knew that he wanted the chicken on a sandwich because so many of his customers were always in a hurry to go back to work. He found that a hamburger bun was the key. Truett buttered the bun and added two pickles to the sandwich. The next step was to name the product. For several years, it was called the Chicken Steak Sandwich. Truett worked with the words "chicken" and "fillet". After putting them together, he changed "chicken-fillet" to "Chick-fil-A". The "A" stood for Grade A. The name was trademarked in 1963.

"The name Chick-fil-A captures the essence of what we do. It has forced the organization to be very disciplined and stay focused on chicken- the best part of the chicken. After forty years you could make a good argument that it was a stroke of genius- the name and how it has protected our focus."- Steve Robinson, Senior VP of Chick-fil-A.

The Dwarf House

Truett Cathy and his brother, Ben, opened The Dwarf House in 1946. The first day sales were $58.20. The Dwarf House serves steakburgers and hamburgers unlike other Chick-fil-A locations. they also serve deep-fried pies in peach, apple and sweet potato flavors. When you first arrive at The Dwarf House, you notice the "dwarf-sized" front door. The Dwarf House is open 24 hours a day, closes at 4:00am Sunday morning, and reopens at 6:00am on Monday.

The way Truett and Ben were able to gain customers was to give free food. "I did give away a lot of food. That was the best way I knew to attract customers to a new restaurant and make friends. Everybody loves free food. Once we got the customers in the door, we knew we could keep them with good service and good food. That model- offering free food to get people to try us out- would become our model for building a customers base at Chick-fil-A twenty years later." S. Truett Cathy

S. Truett Cathy

"Nearly every moment of every day we have the opportunity to give something to someone else- our time, our love, our resources. I have always found more joy in giving when I didn't expect anything in return."- S. Truett Cathy

Truett Cathy and his brother, Ben, opened a diner called The Dwarf Grill in 1946. We now know the diner as The Dwarf House. Truett's unique way of customer service helped him build his business over the years. He opened his first Chick-fil-A in 1967 at Atlanta's Greenbriar Shopping Center. Chick-fil-A has since become a huge success with over 1500 restaurants in 38 states. Chick-fil-A is the second largest quick service chicken chain in the United States. Chick-fil-A holds a record of 42 consecutive years of annual sales increases.

Truett Cathy's pride and joy is his family. He and his lovely wife, Jeannette, have two sons who work alongside their father. Dan is the president of Chick-fil-A and Bubba is the senior vice president. Truett and Jeannette have 12 grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and more than 150 "foster children".