- Chick-fil-A is always closed on Sunday.
- Occasionally, however, locations will open in emergencies, providing free food to those in need.
- Chick-fil-A prepared free meals for the thousands of passengers stranded after a power failure halted activity at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
- Similar instances happened following the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting and when tornadoes hit Texas in 2015.
It is a well-established fact that Chick-fil-A refuses to open on Sunday.
It's a tradition that has been in place since the company's foundational years. The company attributes the rule to Truett Cathy on its website: "Having worked seven days a week in restaurants open 24 hours, Truett saw the importance of closing on Sundays so that he and his employees could set aside one day to rest and worship if they choose - a practice we uphold today."
However, in very specific situations, Chick-fil-A employees will spring into action on Sunday.
When the world's busiest airport closed for hours without power on Sunday, stranding thousands of passengers, Chick-fil-A employees made thousands of sandwiches for people stuck in Atlanta.
"While Chick-fil-A is always closed on Sunday, our restaurants open occasionally to serve communities in need," spokesperson Amanda Hannah said in an email to Business Insider.
This isn't the first time that Chick-fil-A has opened on a Sunday.
In 2016, following the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, local Chick-fil-A locations broke tradition to open on a Sunday. Employees worked to prepare food for first responders and people donating blood following the shooting at the gay nightclub, which killed 49 people.
In 2015, Chick-fil-A locations in Texas prepared free food for responders and others impacted by tornadoes that ripped through the state, killing 11 people.
According to Hannah, when Chick-fil-A opens on Sunday, the company does not make a profit. Instead, she said, it attempts to "do what we can to offer comfort to people experiencing hardship."
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