Chick-fil-A has built successful franchise on family values, God

By EILEEN SMITH
The (Cherry Hill, N.J.) Courier-Post

It's 4:30 on a June afternoon as Dan Cathy pulls into the parking lot at Chick-fil-A, the latest stop on a tour to toot the horn of the fast-food icon.

First, the chain's president and chief operating officer trills a pitch-perfect rendition of reveille on his trumpet before he is off to rally the troops.

Forty years ago, his father, Truett Cathy, opened the first Chick-fil-A in a budding shopping mall in Atlanta.

Now more than 1,315 Chick-fil-As operate in 37 states and the District of Columbia with annual sales of more than $2 billion. There are 19 stores in the Nashville area. Of those, 13 are owned by the company.

The menu has expanded over the years to include salads and the format has been updated with freestanding stores with drive-through windows, as well as a new cafe-like concept that will be rolled out in December.

But Cathy says the company's mission hasn't changed in four decades.


Read the full story in the Tennessean