 (ATLANTA - February 2, 2005) As the 2005 International Poultry Exposition moves out of the Georgia World Congress Center, the National Poultry & Food Distributors Association (NPFDA) is pleased to announce that S. Truett Cathy, Founder and Chairman of Chic-fil-A, has been selected as the 2005 NPFDA Poultry Industry Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. The award is given each year to a poultry industry leader that has played a major role in the growth of the poultry industry. This is the first year the award has gone to a leader and truly an innovator in the retail segment of the poultry industry.
S. Truett Cathy is founder and chairman of Chick-fil-A, Inc. Cathy started the business in 1946, when he and his brother, Ben, opened an Atlanta diner known as The Dwarf Grill (later renamed The Dwarf House). Over the years, that restaurant prospered and led Cathy to further the success of his business. In 1967, Cathy founded and opened the first Chick-fil-A restaurant in Atlanta's Greenbriar Shopping Center. Today, Chick-fil-A is the second-largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the United States based on annual sales. Currently, there are more than 1,150 restaurants in 37 states and Washington D.C. Cathy has led Chick-fil-A on an unparalleled record of 36 consecutive years of annual sales increases.
"Nearly every moment of every day we have the opportunity to give something to someone else-our time, our love, our resources. I have always found more joy in giving when I did not expect anything in return." - Quote from "Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People" by S. Truett Cathy, published 2002.
In 1996, Chick-fil-A became the title sponsor of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in the Georgia Dome, the annual college football match up between top teams for the Atlanta Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference. To date, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl has become the most competitive game in bowl history. The game also donates large portions of revenue towards a wide variety of national and local charities.
Cathy has received countless awards over the years including: Norman Vincent & Ruth Stafford Humanitarian Award (2003); Catalyst Lifetime Achievement Award from Injoy/John Maxwell (2003); Georgia Sports Hall of Fame - Chairman's Award (2003); the Ernst & Young- Entrepreneur of the Year - Lifetime Achievement Award (2000) and Horatio Alger Award - Horation Alger Association, Washington, D.C. (1989) He is also the author of Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People (Looking Glass Books, 2002), It's Easier to Succeed Than to Fail (Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1989), and co-author of The Generosity Factor with Ken Blanchard (Zondervan Publishing, 2002). |
