Smyrna Resident Wins Chick-fil-A's Top Scholarship; Chosen by Chains Founder Truett Cathy

Chick-fil-A Founder, 91, Selects Smyrna Chick-fil-A Team Member to Win Chain’s Top Scholarship

SMYRNA, Ga.  (Sept. 12, 2012) – Continuing his legacy of encouraging and supporting higher education, Chick-fil-A® founder S. Truett Cathy has selected Smyrna resident Brandi Willis from nearly 1,600 candidates to receive the 2011 S. Truett Cathy Scholar Award, the chain’s top scholarship.

       Stephen Miltiades, franchised Operator of the South Cobb Drive Chick-fil-AÒ restaurant at 3100 South Cobb Drive, presented the award to Willis.  

       Cathy, whose life-long support of higher education was formalized into the Chick-fil-A Leadership Scholarship program in 1973, personally selected the recipients alongside a blue-ribbon panel of Atlanta-area civic and business leaders. The 25 winners are chosen annually out of the chain’s Leadership Scholarship winners, all of whom are employed at a Chick-fil-A restaurant. This second $1,000 scholarship, the S. Truett Cathy Scholar Award, recognizes team members who excel in academics, community service and leadership.

“For several generations now it has been a priority for me to encourage and support our team members as they seek to further their educations,” said Cathy, 91, who continues to serve as CEO of the Atlanta-based chain he founded. “I am thrilled to recognize youth such as Brandi whose dedication, pursuit of excellence and personal character exemplify the traits we want to foster in the leaders of tomorrow.”

          Willis has worked for Chick-fil-A for more than 3 years at the South Cobb Drive location. She is studying Chemistry at Tuskeegee University, Tuskeegee, Alabama. A 2010 graduate of Campbell High School in Smyrna, Willis was active in varsity cheerleading, concert band and drama club. She also volunteered with St. Luke United Methodist Church youth camp.  

“Brandi personifies the qualities the S. Truett Cathy Scholar Award was created to recognize,” said Miltiades. “She leads by example in our restaurant and community. I am delighted that her hard work, positive attitude and leadership have been rewarded with this prestigious scholarship.”

       Chick-fil-A’s franchised Operators strive to create a work environment that fosters personal and team character development that will benefit each restaurant team member in their school, home and communities, as well as during their time at Chick-fil-A. These Operators, many of whom are former Leadership and S. Truett Cathy Scholar Award recipients themselves, take seriously their roles as mentors in promoting the development of restaurant team members in the areas of goal-setting, integrity, service, work ethic and leadership.

        Since its inception, the S. Truett Cathy Scholar Award has awarded $400,000 in funds to previous Leadership Scholarship recipients. Founded in 1973, Chick-fil-A’s Leadership Scholarship program has awarded more than $30 million in $1,000 scholarships. It is projected that Chick-fil-A scholarship recipients have attended one of more than 3,100 institutions across the country.

About Chick-fil-A, Inc.
        Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A, Inc. is the nation’s second-largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain (based on sales), with more than 1,600 restaurants in 39 states and Washington D.C.  In 2011, Chick-fil-A produced record sales of $4.1 billion – a 13.08 percent overall increase and a seven percent same-store sales gain that helped extend the chain’s streak of consecutive sales growth to 44 years. In September 2011, Chick-fil-A was named Top Large Chain by Zagat’s National Fast Food Survey of 6,000 customers. Consumer Reports named the chain the nation’s top chicken chain in its August 2011 Quick Service Restaurant survey of 36,000 readers. More information about Chick-fil-A is available on the chain’s websites, located at www.chick-fil-a.com,

www.chick-fil-apressroom.com, www.truettcathy.com and www.facebook.com/chick-fil-a.

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