Who Owns Chick-fil-A? The Cathy Family Takes 15% of Sales Plus Half the Profit

The Cathy family: three generations of private ownership

S. Truett Cathy opened The Dwarf Grill - later The Dwarf House - with his brother Ben in 1946, and opened the first Chick-fil-A restaurant in Atlanta in 1967. chick-fil-a.com He built the chain on a franchise model that remained privately held throughout his lifetime.

Truett Cathy died on 8 September 2014 at the age of 93. npr.org His son Dan T. Cathy had already taken over as chief executive in 2013. In September 2021 the company announced that Andrew Truett Cathy, then 43, would become CEO on 1 November 2021, only the third member of the family to lead the company, with Dan remaining Chairman of the Board. chick-fil-a.com

Chick-fil-A generates more revenue per restaurant than any other US fast-food chain — outperforming McDonald's, Starbucks, and Subway on a per-unit basis — while being closed every Sunday.

Ownership structure

Chick-fil-A, Inc. is a privately held Georgia corporation. The precise breakdown of economic interests among Truett Cathy's descendants, between direct shareholdings and family trusts, has never been disclosed. The company files no reports with the SEC and is under no obligation to do so, so any specific split you see quoted is inference rather than record.

What the company itself confirms:

• It is "a family-owned business, founded by S. Truett Cathy"; there is no ticker and no public shareholder
• Dan T. Cathy is Chairman; Andrew Cathy is CEO
• Donald "Bubba" M. Cathy is Executive Vice President and President, Dwarf House; Trudy Cathy White serves as an Ambassador
• Second- and third-generation family members continue to participate in the business chick-fil-a.com

Scale and revenue

Chick-fil-A publishes no annual report, but it must file a Franchise Disclosure Document, and those filings put real numbers on the table. US system-wide sales ran $16.674 billion in 2021, $18.814 billion in 2022, $21.586 billion in 2023, $22.746 billion in 2024 and $23.918 billion in 2025, making it one of only three quick-service brands above $20 billion, despite closing every Sunday. qsrmagazine.com

Average unit volume is the more striking figure. For freestanding and drive-thru-only restaurants the average annual sales volume has run $8.142 million (2021), $8.51 million (2022), $9.275 million (2023), $9.227 million (2024) and $9.087 million (2025). The 2022 Franchise Disclosure Document sets out the underlying method: of 1,836 non-mall franchised restaurants open a full calendar year in 2021, median annual sales volume was $7,969,510 and the average $8,142,257. franchisetimes.com The gap over the rest of the sector is explained in part by drive-through throughput and brand loyalty, but also by a selective franchise model that limits location density.

Only the Chick-fil-A figure is a disclosed average unit volume. The peer figures are estimates: McDonald's and Starbucks are US system-wide sales divided by US unit count as reported in the 2025 QSR 50 ($53.469bn across 13,559 McDonald's units; $30.4bn across 16,935 Starbucks units), and Popeyes is Restaurant Brands International's disclosed PLK segment system-wide sales of $6,076 million across 3,578 restaurants for 2025. qsrmagazine.com sec.gov

The franchise model: operators, not owners

Chick-fil-A's franchise structure is unlike almost any other fast-food chain, and the terms are set out in black and white in the company's own Franchise Disclosure Document. Franchisees, called "operators", pay an initial franchise fee of $10,000, half of which is non-refundable and half of which is held as working capital. chick-fil-a.com The FDD then defines a "Base Operating Service Fee" of 15% of gross receipts (less equipment rental and business services fees) plus an "Additional Operating Service Fee" of 50% of the operator's net profit. Chick-fil-A either owns the site outright or holds the prime lease, and the operator occupies as lessee or sublessee, paying rent to Chick-fil-A. Total investment to open is disclosed as $219,055 to $2,912,697. franchisetimes.com As one trade analysis of the same terms puts it, "Chick-fil-A pays for everything up front and leases everything back to the operator, who pays 15% of sales and then splits the profits with the franchisor." restaurantbusinessonline.com

The trade-off for operators is a near-total absence of transferable equity. The FDD prohibits any sale, assignment, pledge or transfer of the agreement, the business or the site without Chick-fil-A's written consent - and its own outlet tables record zero transfers of franchised restaurants to new owners in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Multi-unit ownership is possible but rationed: Chick-fil-A says it does not offer multi-unit opportunities to initial applicants, and that only "a select group" of proven operators are later allowed up to three traditional restaurants. chick-fil-a.com

WinShape Foundation and family philanthropy

S. Truett Cathy and his wife Jeannette established WinShape in 1984 to invest in college students - hence the name, "shaping winners." It now runs five ministries: WinShape Camps, the WinShape College Program, WinShape Homes (foster care), WinShape Marriage and WinShape Teams. winshape.org The foundation is a significant vehicle for the family's Christian values, which have periodically generated public controversy - most notably in 2012, when statements by Dan Cathy on same-sex marriage prompted national boycotts and counter-boycotts.

The foundation is legally separate from Chick-fil-A, Inc., funded by family donations. Its activities do not affect the corporate ownership structure.

Will Chick-fil-A ever go public?

Industry analysts have long speculated about a Chick-fil-A IPO. The company's scale, nearly $24 billion of US system-wide sales in 2025, makes it theoretically feasible. But there is no public record of the family ever registering securities or announcing an intention to, and Chick-fil-A continues to describe itself simply as a family-owned business. Treat any reported IPO timetable as speculation until a registration statement appears on EDGAR. chick-fil-a.com

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