4029. Chick-fil-A Mascot

Chick-fil-A (referring to "fillet") is an American quick service restaurant chain headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of College Park, Georgia, United States, specializing in chicken entrées and is known for promoting the company founder's Christian values. Long associated with the Southern United States, where it has been a cultural icon, the chain has expanded. As of April 2012, Chick-fil-A has 1,614 restaurants in 39 states and the District of Columbia, and is focusing future growth in the American Midwest, the Philippines, Mexico, and southern California. Chick-fil-A had historically been identified with shopping malls, as most of its original restaurants were in their food courts. Its first freestanding store opened in 1986; most of its new restaurants also are freestanding.[5] As of 2012, the chain has over 1000 such units. It also has over two dozen drive-through-only locations.[6] Chick-fil-A also can be found at universities, hospitals, and airports through licensing agreements. The chain grew from the Dwarf Grill (later the Dwarf House, a name still used by the chain), a restaurant opened by S. Truett Cathy, who is still the company's chairman, in the Atlanta, Georgia suburb of Hapeville in 1946. This restaurant is near the now-demolished Ford plant, where some workers ate between shifts. The first Chick-fil-A that is in a mall opened in Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall in 1967. The company's current trademarked slogan, "We Didn't Invent the Chicken, Just the Chicken Sandwich," refers to their flagship menu-item, the popular quick-serve or fast-food chicken sandwich. In 1961, Cathy found a pressure-fryer that could cook the sandwich chicken in the same amount of time it took to cook a fast-food hamburger. Since 1994, the Atlanta-based company has been the title sponsor of the Peach Bowl, an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta. Beginning in the 2006 season, the Peach Bowl became the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Chick-fil-A also is a key sponsor of the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 conferences of college athletics.