Chick-fil-A founder dies

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S. Truett Cathy, who grew his boneless chicken sandwich business from one store in Georgia to the Chick-fil-A chain -- a $5 billion company with more than 1,800 locations -- died early Monday morning.

He was 93. He had been ailing for some time.

"He died peacefully at home, surrounded by loved ones," Chick-fil-A said in a statement posted on its website.

Deeply religious, Cathy made the decision when he opened his first store in Hapeville, Georgia, that it would stay closed on Sundays.

Sixty-eight years later, that policy still stands at all Chick-fil-A stores.

Cathy first dreamed up his concept for a chicken sandwich after a poultry distributor wondered if there was a way to use leftover chicken from meals prepared for plane passengers.

He tried it on his customers at his Hapeville store, the Dwarf Grill. The first Chick-fil-A opened at a mall in Atlanta in 1967.

Today, Chick-fil-A has surpassed KFC in U.S. sales.

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