The death of a founder of a big company comes with sadness to most people who know the company well or who know that founder personally. There is another side to what can occur inside a company upon the founder’s death. What happens to the company after an heir, or group of heirs, takes over? That is a question regarding the future structure of Chick-fil-A after the news that 93-year-old S. Truett Cathy passed away.

As with almost any passing away of a great business leader, the aim of this question is not to be insensitive to a family or company when sad news has come about.

24/7 Wall St. does not expect that Chick-fil-A will be filing for an initial public offering or look for a sale any time soon. That being said, this does still bring up questions about what to expect down the road. Could Chick-fil-A ultimately become a public company or be sold to private equity or another food chain operator?

For starters, Chick-fil-A has managed to remain a private company despite incredible growth. The company’s first original Chick-fil-A in-mall store opened in 1967. The company’s timeline showed that Chick-fil-A surpassed $1 billion in system-wide sales in the year 2,000 and it opened its 1,000th location in 2001. Chick-fil-A surpassed $2 billion in system-wide sales in 2006 and surpassed $3 billion in system-wide sales in 2009. Chick-fil-A then surpassed $4 billion in system-wide sales in 2011,  only to reach $5 billion in system-wide sales in 2013.

With growth of this magnitude, one would have to wonder how many investment bankers have tried to get into the company or who would like to have gotten into the company  for potential deals over the years. As far as a succession plan, this was already in place. In 2013, Dan Cathy was named Chairman, CEO and President, with founder Truett Cathy named as Chairman Emeritus. We would also point out that Dan Cathy was shown to succeed Chick-fil-A’s retiring President Jimmy Collins upon Collins’ retirement back in 2001.

Multiple reports in early 2014 signaled that Chick-fil-A had passed up Yum’s KFC in fast-food chicken market share. The company’s fairly recent controversy over gay marriage appears to have had little to no long-term damage, and there are now over 1,800 restaurants in 40 states and in Washington D.C. The Atlanta Journal Constitution showed back in 2011 that the company was getting 10,000 to 25,000 franchisee applications from potential franchise operators for the 60 to 70 slots they open each year.

Here is where things could get complicated down the road, and why we ask questions about what will happen down the road as far as the corporate structure. Truett Cathy was recently reported to be worth $6.3 billion according to Forbes list of the most wealthy billionaires. The corporate press release said that Truett Cathy is survived by his wife (Jeannette McNeil Cathy), sons Dan T. Cathy and Don “Bubba” Cathy, and daughter Trudy Cathy White. There are also 19 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.

A sum of $6.3 billion is quite an estate. We are also not suggesting that there will even be an internal debate over the company. Many families manage to get through times of tragedy and the process in the weeks, months, and years down the road without any issues. If that turns out to be the case here for Chick-fil-A, then maybe it stays family-owned for another generation. Still, a founder’s passing away can open the question about the corporate structure of future operations.

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