Chick-fil-A opened its first restaurant in an Atlanta shopping mall in 1967.
The restaurant was located at Greenbriar Mall in Atlanta, Georgia. It was founded by S. Truett Cathy, who had previously operated the Dwarf Grill and developed the chicken sandwich that became the company’s signature product.
The mall location helped Chick-fil-A establish a distinctive business model centered on chicken rather than hamburgers. The company later expanded through shopping malls, standalone restaurants, and other formats.
The 1967 date is sometimes confused with the 1946 opening of the Dwarf Grill, which was an earlier restaurant founded by Cathy. It is also distinct from the date of the chicken sandwich’s creation, commonly given as 1964.