The Complete History of Chick-fil-A — From the Dwarf Grill to 3,000+ Stores

Origins — the Dwarf Grill (1946)

Truett Cathy and his brother Ben opened the Dwarf Grill in Hapeville, Georgia in May 1946 — a tiny 24-hour diner across from the Ford assembly plant. Truett was 25, freshly out of WWII service, and looking for a steady living. Within a week of opening he made the call that would define the brand 80 years later: the diner would be closed on Sundays.

The Dwarf Grill (later renamed the Dwarf House) still operates in Hapeville today. It served everything from country ham to steaks — but the menu item that mattered was a small experiment in the 1960s with a boneless, breaded chicken breast served on a buttered bun with two pickles.

Inventing the chicken sandwich (1960s)

Cathy reportedly bought a small batch of de-boned chicken breasts from a Southern airline supplier — the airline could not use them because they were the wrong size for inflight service. Cathy seasoned them, breaded them, pressure-fried them in peanut oil and put them on a buttered bun with two dill pickles.

He spent four years tweaking the recipe before trademarking the name 'Chick-fil-A' in 1961 — the 'A' standing for 'top quality' (Grade A). The sandwich was first sold by other restaurants under license before Cathy decided to build his own brand around it.

Going freestanding (1986–2010)

In 1986 Chick-fil-A opened its first freestanding restaurant in Atlanta — a small building with a drive-thru and a dining room. The format proved enormously profitable: per-store sales doubled almost overnight compared to mall locations. Through the 1990s and 2000s, the chain expanded across the South, then nationally.