**Chick-fil-A** is a privately held American fast-food chain specializing in chicken sandwiches, nuggets, and related items, renowned for its original boneless breast sandwich and unwavering focus on customer service.[2][4] Unlike competitors, it avoids beef products and closes all locations on Sundays to honor its founder's Southern Baptist values, fostering employee rest and family time.[4][6] The company's journey began in 1946 when S. Truett Cathy and his brother Ben opened the Dwarf Grill (later Dwarf House) in Hapeville, Georgia, near a Ford plant, serving simple fare to steady patrons.[1][2][3] In 1961, Cathy innovated by adapting a pressure fryer to cook chicken as quickly as burgers, birthing the Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich—trademarked with the slogan "We Didn't Invent the Chicken, Just the Chicken Sandwich."[2][3] The first branded restaurant debuted in 1967 inside Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall, pioneering mall food courts and expanding rapidly in the 1970s-1980s.[1][5][7] The inaugural standalone location opened in 1986 on North Druid Hills Road, shifting focus from malls to suburban drive-thrus and freestanding sites.[2][3][7] Key achievements include the iconic 1990s "Eat Mor Chikin" cow campaign, which humorously boosted brand loyalty, and explosive growth to over 3,000 U.S. locations by recent counts, employing 35,000+ while ranking third in sales despite fewer stores than McDonald's or KFC.[4][7][9] It boasts top same-store sales and leads as the largest quick-service chicken chain.[9] Leadership passed from Truett (d. 2014) to son Dan Cathy (CEO 2013-2021), then grandson Andrew in 2021.[5] Today, headquartered in College Park, Georgia, Chic