The Fast Food Chain That First Put Chicken Sandwiches On Its Menu

Chick-fil-A started serving up fried chicken sandwiches in 1964, but they came with a side of dubious claims. Chick-fil-A was, undeniably, the first restaurant chain to sell fried chicken sandwiches on a national scale. But for years the company didn't just claim that they were the first to sell chicken sandwiches, they claimed they were the first to invent them. In the words of the company's original slogan, "We didn't invent the chicken, just the chicken sandwich."

Did Chick-fil-A invent the chicken sandwich? No. The chain's founder, Samuel Truett Cathy, was far from the first person to put a fried filet between two pieces of bread.  Restaurants and cafés had been selling fried chicken sandwiches for at least 30 years already (and likely longer).

Nowadays, Chick-fil-A is a little more humble. The chain's new slogan, "Eat Mor Chikin," debuted in 1995 and Chick-fil-A's website makes no claim to the invention of the sandwich. Even references to the original slogan are gone. Still, decades of exposure has kept the myth alive. It isn't the first time Chick-fil-A has altered the brand and it won't be the last (just recently Chick-fil-A has changed its mind about antibiotics).

If Cathy didn't invent the fried chicken sandwich, what did he invent? Well, he did develop the exact recipe that Chick-fil-A uses to this day. He also came up with the idea for a chain selling chicken sandwiches and turned it into a national brand.

Historically, fried chicken was too inefficient for the fast food restaurant model. Until Cathy came along, burgers were the de facto fast food meal — pop a patty in a pan and it'll be ready to serve in minutes. But the invention of deep fat pressure fryers changed the game. Cathy didn't invent that either. The credit for that idea goes to Chester Wagner, who patented the first deep-fat pressure fryer in 1955. With a pressure fryer, fried chicken can be made in roughly the same amount of time as it takes to cook a burger.

Fellow fried chicken maverick Harland Sanders (aka Colonel Sanders) followed with a patent for a similar fryer in 1966. But by then, Wagner's invention had already caught Cathy's eye. Cathy was running Dwarf House, a 24-hour diner in Atlanta, Georgia, when he acquired Wagner's machine. The restaurant was thriving and Cathy was looking for ways to expand. He started experimenting with pressure-fried chicken and eventually developed the recipe that would become Chick-fil-A's famous chicken sandwich. Soon, the sandwiches were Dwarf House's best-selling item. Seeing the market demand for chicken sandwiches, Cathy began laying the framework for a new chain — and Chick-fil-A was born.

Some dishes have clear-cut histories. Cesare Cardini invented Caesar salad. Alfredo di Lelio invented Fettuccine Alfredo. Even the sandwich itself has an alleged inventor: John Montagu, the Earl of Sandwich.

No such history exists for the chicken sandwich. Like many Southern classics, fried chicken is a blend of African and Scottish cooking techniques. Historically, it's been part of black culinary culture — though its history is complicated by stereotypes. It's possible we owe the chicken sandwich to techniques developed by uncredited black cooks. In 1936, decades before Chick-fil-A opened, an ad for fried chicken sandwiches appeared in the Kansas Whip newspaper — a black newspaper out of Topeka, Kansas.

The fact that other types of popular fried chicken dishes have well-known inventors makes the mystery around the chicken sandwich all the more glaring. Most sources state that Frank and Teressa Bellissimo invented Buffalo chicken (though some historians now credit a restaurateur named John Young). Love Nashville hot chicken? Thank Thornton Prince and his wandering eye. Over 80 years ago, a pissed-off paramour spiked Prince's chicken with spice after catching him with another woman. But Prince loved it. He developed his own recipe and opened Prince's Chicken Shack. Today, Prince's Chicken Shack is recognized by the James Beard Foundation for its contributions.

Whoever invented the dish, we're grateful. And now, we have more options than ever before. Popeyes entered the chicken sandwich game in 2019, and other chains followed. But no matter where your loyalties lie, we can thank ingenuity, innovation, and centuries of Southern tradition for bringing us another American classic.