An homage to the Chick-fil-A® Chicken Sandwich

Picture this. It’s 18th century England, and the fourth Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, is hungry. He asks his staff to serve some meat between two slices of bread, so he can eat his meal with one hand and carry on with his other activities.

His request sounded simple enough. But Montagu had no idea that it would start a movement around the world — a sandwich movement, that is.

To honour the fourth Earl of Sandwich’s timeless creation, we celebrate World Sandwich Day on November 3rd, Montagu’s birthday. And at Chick-fil-A Canada, World Sandwich Day never passes without celebrating our global Founder S.Truett Cathy and his secret recipe for the Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich – the same recipe restaurants across North America still use today.

Truett created his recipe in the early 1960s at the Dwarf Grill (later renamed The Dwarf House®) in Hapeville, Georgia. It all happened with a perfect storm of events. 

Looking to feature high-quality chicken on the Dwarf Grill menu, Truett wanted a way to serve it to his guests quickly. That’s when he was approached by Jim and Hall Goode, owners of Goode Brothers Poultry, who offered him boneless, skinless chicken breast – which they developed for a local airline to fit onto their segmented in-flight plates. 

Partnering with the brothers as suppliers, Cathy began experimenting with new ways to cook boneless chicken breast. He remembered how his mother cooked chicken by covering the pan with a heavy top, creating something of a pressure cooker. When he tried this on his own, he found that he could cook a moist and tender boneless chicken breast in four minutes – from start to finish.

He tested different blends of seasonings and breading for the chicken, eventually landing on the perfect set of seasonings and ingredients. Cathy placed the chicken on a toasted bun and added a finishing touch - two dill pickle slices – before giving the sandwich to his customers for one of his many taste tests.

And just like that, after four years of ideating, experimenting, and testing, his customers said: “We like it. Don’t change it again.”

He folded up the recipe and put it in his pocket. Hand-breaded, pressure cooked, and seasoned to perfection, the Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich was born. 

So, on this World Sandwich Day, we invite you to bite into your favourite sandwich, whether it be the Original Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich or our Grilled Chicken Sandwich or the Spicy Chicken Sandwich. After all, a day of such historic awesomeness deserves a tasty celebration.