Salad Days Competitors

Coming soon to Dunwoody, Georgia! It all started in 1946, when Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant, The Dwarf Grill, in Hapeville, Georgia. Credited with inventing Chick-fil-A's boneless breast of chicken sandwich, Mr. Cathy founded Chick-fil-A, Inc. in the early 1960s and pioneered the establishment of restaurants in shopping malls with the opening of the first Chick-fil-A Restaurant at a mall in suburban Atlanta in 1967. Since then, Chick-fil-A has steadily grown to become the second largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the United States, with over 1,700 locations in 39 states and Washington, D.C. In 2012, annual sales were over $4.6 billion. Chick-fil-A is still privately held and family owned.

Sweetgreen (NYSE: SG) is on a mission to build healthy communities by connecting people to real food. Since 2007, the brand has reimagined what fast food can be: fresh, flavorful, and built on real relationships with growers. Born at the farmers market, Sweetgreen’s supply chain now spans the country, still rooted in relationships with local farmers and growers. That foundation continues to guide its seasonal, chef-crafted menus across more than 285 locations nationwide, creating spaces where food, people and purpose come together.

ThinkFoodGroup, founded by award-winning chef José Andrés and his partner Rob Wilder, is the creative team responsible for renowned dining concepts in Washington, DC, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Fisco Texas and Puerto Rico. ThinkFoodGroup oversees all of the creative and educational efforts for José Andrés, an internationally recognized culinary innovator, passionate advocate for food and hunger issues, author, educator, and television personality. Time Magazine named him on the “Time 100” list of most influential people in the world. Often credited with creating the “Spanish food boom” in America, Andrés is Dean of the Spanish Studies program at the International Culinary Center, the first and only program of its kind in the United States. Andrés can be seen on PBS as host and executive producer of Made in Spain. His cookbooks include Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America. Andrés also teaches “Science and Cooking” at Harvard as well as “The World on a Plate; How Food Shapes Civilization” at George Washington University. In late 2010, José Andrés and ThinkFoodGroup launched World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit that aims to feed and empower vulnerable people in humanitarian crises around the world.