S Truett Cathy Monument

Public Art: S Truett Cathy Monument (AKA “Climb with Care and Confidence” )

Sculptors: Art and sculpture students at Georgia State University.

Date: Dedicated in 1995 to the city of Atlanta

Description: A 23ft bronze sculpture depicting people, lending hands, to help others climb over an archway constructed of books.

Location: It is located on Atlanta’s famed Peachtree Street at Woodruff Park, Georgia, United States.

Commissioned by: Chick-fil-A ®

Background: S.Truett Cathy (born March 14, 1921 -    ) is founder of the Chick-fil-A food franchise. Listed as number 322 on Forbes top 400 richest people list in 2006, he is believed to have a net worth of $1.2 billion. Truett started his first diner in 1946 with his brother Ben. The sandwich shop, located in Atlanta, was known as the "Dwarf Grill", because it was so small, only having 10 stools. The brothers used cheap chicken that had been discarded by Delta Airlines ( because the pieces were too large to fit on the meal trays) as their main source of supply. Their sandwich shop was often frequented by Ford factory workers, airport workers with round-the-clock shifts workers. In the 1960's, Truett came up with a method for seasoning chicken breast cutlets and cooking them under pressure in peanut oil. In 1964 he began serving his famous deboned fried chicken in buttered buns, one of the first chicken breast sandwiches ever served. With his new recipe in hand, Truett opened his first Chick-fil-A (a play on "Grade -A-Filet") in an Atlanta mall in 1967. It didn't take long before franchises were popping up all over the country. Today there are more than 1,300 Chick-fil-A locations doing more than $2.274 billion each year. Truett, a devout Baptist, has never allowed a Chick-fil-A to open on a Sunday.

History: In 1973 Truett Cathy established the Team Member Scholarship program to encourage his restaurant employees to further their education. It was the first fast food chain to offer this kind of program. In 1994 the company reached its $10 million scholarship milestone and to commemorate the event, commissioned the art and sculpture students of Georgia State University to design a sculpture which would reflect the goals and achievements of the Chick-fil-A scholarship program. The result was a 23ft "bronze" archway called Climb with Care and Confidence, placed at the end of the busy coffee strip on Peachtree Street, Atlanta.

Inscription:

Trivia: Truett Cathy owns a Batmobile used in Batman Returns.

Truett and his wife have three children of their own but have also fostered over 150 children.