Chick-fil-A, Still Closed on Sundays, Set Another Sales Record in 2023
- Michael Foust CrosswalkHeadlines Contributor
- Published Apr 08, 2024
A popular company that closes its restaurants every Sunday and has a corporate goal to “glorify God” set another sales record in 2023, according to new data.
Chick-fil-A generated $21.58 billion in sales in 2023, a 14.7 percent increase over 2022 ($18.81 billion) and a 43 percent increase over 2021 ($15 billion), according to Technomic Ignite data cited by Nation’s Restaurant News.
Incredibly, the restaurant chain has “essentially doubled its total sales volume since 2018,” the website said.
The 14.7 sales growth in 2023 is higher than that of its closest competitors in the chicken category: Popeyes (10 percent, to $5.51 billion) and KFC (1.7 percent, to $5.17 billion), Nation’s Restaurant News said.
Chick-fil-A’s restaurants are closed Sundays, a practice that began in 1946 when its founder, Truett Cathy, closed his first restaurant in Hapeville, Ga., on Sundays.
“Having worked seven days a week in restaurants open 24 hours, Truett saw the importance of closing on Sundays so that he and his employees could set aside one day to rest, enjoy time with their families and loved ones or worship if they choose -- a practice we uphold today,” Chick-fil-A’s website says.
Its official corporate purpose is to “glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us” and “to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A,” its website says.
Cathy, who died in 2014, was a Christian. His family still runs the business.
“From the beginning, Truett based his business on Biblical principles that he believed were also good business principles, and since 1982, our Corporate Purpose has guided all that we do,” Chick-fil-A’s website says. “We keep our Purpose front and center because it helps us to steward our business and our work to positively influence everyone we meet.”
Last summer, Chick-fil-A ranked No. 1 as America’s favorite restaurant in the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index for the ninth straight year. The index surveys the attitudes of Americans on major restaurants.
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Image credit: ©Getty Images/Andrew Renneisen/Stringer
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
