When you're sitting in a drive-thru line that wraps around the building twice, it’s hard to imagine a time when Chick-fil-A wasn’t a national powerhouse. We take the "My Pleasure" and the waffle fries for granted now. But if you’re asking what year did Chick-fil-A open, the answer depends on whether you mean the corporation we know today or the actual start of the founder's journey.
The official, definitive start of the Chick-fil-A brand happened in 1967.
That’s the year S. Truett Cathy opened the very first Chick-fil-A branded restaurant. It wasn't a standalone building with a double drive-thru. It was a tiny, 384-square-foot stall in the Greenbriar Mall in Atlanta. To put that in perspective, that’s about the size of a two-car garage.
The 1946 Prelude: The Dwarf Grill
Honestly, 1967 is only half the story. To really get why this place matters, you have to go back to May 23, 1946. World War II had just ended. Truett Cathy and his brother Ben opened a tiny 24-hour diner called the Dwarf Grill (later the Dwarf House) in Hapeville, Georgia.
They weren't even focused on chicken back then. They were selling burgers and steaks to Ford plant workers and airport employees. It was a humble beginning, but it's where the "A" in the name—representing Grade A quality—actually started to take root.
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Tragedy struck early on when Ben Cathy died in a plane crash. Truett kept going. He spent the next two decades essentially being a mad scientist of poultry. He knew he wanted to serve a chicken sandwich that could be cooked as fast as a hamburger.
- 1961: Truett finds a pressure fryer that can cook a chicken breast in four minutes.
- 1964: After hundreds of recipe tweaks, he finally settles on the "Original Chicken Sandwich" recipe.
- The Secret: It's that specific blend of 20+ spices and the decision to use peanut oil.
Why 1967 Changed Everything
Before the first mall location opened in 1967, Cathy was actually licensing his sandwich to other restaurants. You could get a "Chick-fil-A" sandwich at local diners or even Waffle House. But he hated it. He couldn't control the quality. One guy would toast the bun; another wouldn't.
So, on November 24, 1967, he took a massive gamble.
Shopping malls were a relatively new concept in the South. Most people went to "Main Street" to shop. Putting a restaurant inside a mall was weird. People thought the smell of frying chicken would ruin the clothes in the nearby department stores.
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Cathy convinced them otherwise. He put Doris Williams in charge of that first Greenbriar Mall location. She had been a school cafeteria manager. Together, they pioneered the "food court" concept before it was even a thing. For the next 20 years, Chick-fil-A was almost exclusively a mall brand. If you wanted the chicken, you had to go to the mall.
Shifting Gears in 1986
By the mid-80s, mall culture was changing. People were driving more and wanting faster options. While what year did Chick-fil-A open its first mall store is 1967, the year 1986 is equally vital.
That is when the first standalone Chick-fil-A opened on North Druid Hills Road in Atlanta. This was the "modern" Chick-fil-A era. It meant they could finally have drive-thrus. It meant they weren't tied to mall hours.
A Timeline of Growth
- 1946: The Dwarf Grill opens (The "ancestral home").
- 1964: The recipe is perfected.
- 1967: The first Chick-fil-A opens in Greenbriar Mall.
- 1986: The first standalone restaurant debuts.
- 1993: The first drive-thru-only location opens in South Carolina.
- 2023: The original 1967 Greenbriar Mall location finally closes its doors after 56 years.
The "Closed on Sunday" Legacy
One thing that hasn't changed since 1946 is the Sunday policy. Truett Cathy started it at the Dwarf Grill because he worked 24/6 and simply needed a day to rest and go to church. He carried that over to the first Chick-fil-A in 1967 and every location since.
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It’s a massive business anomaly. Most fast-food places make 15% of their revenue on Sundays. Chick-fil-A walks away from billions of dollars every year to keep that tradition alive.
Summary of Milestones
The brand has come a long way from a 384-square-foot mall stall. Today, there are over 3,000 locations. Even though Truett Cathy passed away in 2014, the company remains privately held by the Cathy family. This allows them to keep those "quirks"—like the Sunday closure and the "My Pleasure" service—intact.
If you’re looking to visit a piece of history, you can still visit the Dwarf House in Hapeville. It was recently renovated but still serves the original menu items, including the burgers that started it all before the chicken sandwich took over the world.
To get the most out of your next visit, try ordering through the app to bypass those legendary 1986-era drive-thru lines, and keep an eye out for the "hidden" menu items like the frosted coffee or the spicy biscuit (where available).
Key Actionable Insights
- Visit the Source: If you're in Atlanta, go to the Hapeville Dwarf House. It’s the only place you can get a Chick-fil-A burger.
- App Benefits: Use the Chick-fil-A One app. Since they don't open on Sundays, the rewards points are basically the only way to get "free" value back from the brand.
- Check the Year: When looking at memorabilia, "Since 1967" refers to the brand, while "Since 1946" refers to the founder's start in the industry.