Who Was S. Truett Cathy?

Since Chick-fil-A has been in the news lately, I thought that it would be appropriate to talk a bit about its founder, S. Truett Cathy.According to the Washington Post S. Truett Cathy’s restaurant chain just “blew past Wendy’s, Burger King, Taco Bell and Subway as it moved up the ranks from the seventh-largest restaurant chain in the United States to become the third.” The restaurant chain is Chick-fil-A, and S. Truett Cathy, now deceased, was its founder. Again from WaPo, “The company is not without challenges, from its faith-based decision to remain closed on Sundays (making things problematic for locations in airports and sports stadiums) to its management’s statements in opposition to same-sex marriage, which prompted boycotts and “kiss ins” organized by GLAAD.”
The only national stores that I am aware of that are closed on Sunday are Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby. According to its founder, Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays to allow the employees to attend church and spend time with their families. Mr. Cathy was a member of the First Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Georgia, and taught Sunday School there for more than 50 years. He said that the Bible is his guide-book for life, and this is most likely why he was opposed to same sex marriage. According to the LGBQ backers this made Mr. Cathy a bad person, and this subsequently made me look into some of the other things he had done, and at some of the books he had written. Mr. Cathy had a Leadership Scholarship program for Chick-fil-A restaurant employees, which has awarded more than $23 million in $1,000 scholarships in the past 35 years. In 1984, Cathy established the WinShape Foundation, named for its mission to shape winners. In addition, Cathy fostered children for more than 30 years, and he received the William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership in 2008. Because of his vast philanthropy, he does not appear to be a bad person to me, but merely disagrees with LGBQ. In my review of S. Truett Cathy’s accomplishments, I came across some of his interesting quotes, which I thought I would pass on: – “Food is Essential to life, therefore make it good.”  – “We’re not just in the chicken business, we’re in the people business.”- “There’s no such thing as business ethics, only personal ethics.”- “I realized the importance of doing a job and doing it right. Pleasing your customers       and enjoying what you’re doing.”- “We’re not limited to traditional media for advertising. Some of the strongest  messages can be delivered for free. I carry a big Chick-fil-A shopping bag whenever  I travel.”
Perhaps from these quotes one can understand why the American Customer Satisfaction Index has rated Chick-fil-A the No. 1 company for the past four years.

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