LRC News Release

Chick-fil-A founder to speak at Lenoir-Rhyne

S. Truett Cathy, founder and chairman of Chick-fil-A Inc., will speak at 7 p.m. Oct. 10 in the P.E. Monroe Auditorium at Lenoir-Rhyne College. The event is sponsored by the Charles M. Snipes School of Business; Thrivent Financial Services for Lutherans; and LIGHTS (Lutherans In Greater Hickory Together Serving), an association of Lutheran pastors. It is free and open to the public.

Cathy’s topic will be “Doing Business the Chick-fil-A Way: A Christian Perspective.” Cathy started the business in 1946, when he and his brother, Ben, opened an Atlanta diner known as The Dwarf Grill. In 1967, Cathy founded and opened the first Chick-fil-A restaurant in Atlanta’s Greenbriar Shopping Center. Today, Chick-fil-A is the second-largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the United States based on annual sales.
There are more than 1,250 restaurants in 37 states and Washington, D.C. The company has an unparalleled record of 38 consecutive years of annual sales increases.

Cathy’s approach is largely driven by personal satisfaction and a sense of obligation to the community and its young people. His WinShape Centre Foundation, founded in 1984, grew from his desire to “shape winners” by helping young people succeed in life through scholarships and other youth-support programs. The foundation annually awards 20-30 students wishing to attend Berry College with scholarships up to $32,000 that are jointly funded by the college.
In addition, through its Leadership Scholarship Program, the Chick-fil-A chain has given more than $20 million in $1,000 scholarships to Chick-fil-A restaurant employees since 1973.

His WinShape Homes program has started 14 foster care homes in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Brazil. Another program is WinShape Camps, a summer camp at Berry College to help boys and girls build self-esteem through physical and spiritual activities. Nearly 1,800 campers throughout the country attend these camp sessions annually.

Cathy is a devoutly religious man who built his life and business based on hard work, humanity and biblical principles. Based on these principles, all Chick-fil-A restaurants are closed in Sundays. When not managing his company, Cathy donates his time to community efforts and teaches a Sunday school class to 13-year-old boys, as he has done for nearly 50 years. Cathy recently celebrated 60 years in the restaurant industry. In honor of this accomplishment, Georgia Gov. Sonny Purdue proclaimed May 23, 2006 as “Truett Cathy Day” throughout the state.

In addition to his business success, Cathy is a dedicated husband, father and grandfather. His two sons, Dan and Don (Bubba), have both followed their father in the business. His daughter, Trudy, and her husband, John, recently returned to the United States from Brazil, where they served as missionaries. Cathy and his wife, Jeannette, have 12 grandchildren and more than 150 “foster grandchildren.”