Raising Restaurants, LLC, doing business as Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers (commonly simply called Raising Cane's) is an American fast casual chain specializing in chicken fingers founded in 1996 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by Todd Graves and Craig Silvey. The company is named after Graves's dog, a yellow Labrador. Other yellow Labradors have served as company mascots, as well as certified therapy animals.[5]
 | |
| Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers | |
| Formerly | none |
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Genre | Fast casual |
| Founded | August 28, 1996[1] |
| Founder | Todd Graves |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Number of locations | 800+ (2024)[2] |
Area served | United States Bahrain Kuwait Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates |
| Products | |
| Revenue |  US$1.5 billion (2020)[3] |
Number of employees | 50,000[4] (2022) |
| Website | www.raisingcanes.com |
History
editFounders Todd Graves and Craig Silvey were studying at different universities when they wrote a plan for a chicken-finger restaurant which Silvey submitted in a business plan-writing course, receiving a C-minus grade. At the time, Graves worked at Guthrie's Chicken Fingers.[6]
The business plan was rejected numerous times by potential investors, so Graves and Silvey earned the needed money working various manual labor jobs.[6] They obtained an SBA loan, which they used to open their first restaurant, located in Baton Rouge at the intersection of Highland Road and State Street near the LSU campus.[7][8][9] Silvey sold his share of the partnership shortly after the second restaurant opened.[6]
In March 2020, many of Cane's locations switched from dine-in to pick-up and take-out service only because of the COVID-19 pandemic, while others closed temporarily. As of July 2020, certain locations had reopened their dining rooms, although Graves said the company was in no rush to do so on the full scale.[10]
In 2021, in response to a shortage of workers at the time, the company began dispatching hundreds[11] of their corporate employees to work in its restaurants as cooks and cashiers, in addition to their existing duties regarding the hiring of new employees. The company planned to hire 10,000 new employees.[12] The company's co-CEO said that the corporate employees are trained in the kitchen and on the register under normal circumstances.[13]
In 2022, Raising Cane's sued a shopping center in Hobart, Indiana. After the restaurant chain had signed a long-term lease, it came to light that the shopping center had a non-compete agreement with McDonald's which prohibited other vendors selling deboned chicken products in the complex.[14][15][16]
In 2023, Raising Cane's started a campaign with Post Malone. In April 2023, a restaurant designed by Malone opened in Midvale, Utah.[17] In June, themed cups were launched.[18] In October, a Post Malone and Dallas Cowboys themed location opened in Dallas.[19]
In June 2024, Raising Cane's started a campaign based on their Iced Tea, featuring actor and rapper Ice T as the campaign's mascot. The campaign ended at the end of June.[20]
A new location opened in Encino, California on October 22, 2024, which included a design that gives a nod towards the area's movie history.[21]
International expansion
editThe chain first began expanding internationally in 2015, opening its first restaurant in Kuwait.[22] The namesake mascot, a dog, is not seen on signage and merchandise, as dogs are not popular in Kuwait due to religious reasons.[23] The restaurant expanded to Dubai in 2024.[24]
References
edit- ^ "Who We Are: One Dream, One Love". Raising Cane's. Archived from the original on September 30, 2023. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
Opening Day: After finally getting the cash registers to work, Raising Cane's opened on August 28th, 1996.
- ^ "Locations". Raising Cane's. July 12, 2023. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
- ^ Kelso, Alicia. "Raising Cane's Now Offering 'Industry-Leading' Compensation, Including The Chance To Make $1 Million". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 29, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ "Raising Cane's drops $100,000 on Mega Millions tickets — again". The Washington Post. July 29, 2022. Archived from the original on July 30, 2022. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
- ^ Kern, Sydney (March 20, 2018). "Big paws to fill: training begins for Raising Cane III". WBRZ. Archived from the original on April 19, 2021. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
- ^ a b c Sayre, Alan (June 12, 2007). "Finger joint beat the odds on fish turf". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. p. D3. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- ^ Olmstead, Larry (May 30, 2018). "This fast-food chain serves one specialty". USA Today. Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
- ^ "Our Philosophy". Raising Cane's. Archived from the original on December 9, 2021. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
- ^ "About Our Founder". Raising Cane's. Archived from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
- ^ Chung, Heidi (April 30, 2020). "Raising Cane's CEO: We're not going to hurry back and reopen stores". Yahoo! Finance. Archived from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
- ^ "Raising Cane's sending corporate staff to work in restaurants amid labor shortage". The Hill. October 7, 2021. Archived from the original on October 31, 2021. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
- ^ "Facing employee shortage, Raising Cane's putting corporate staff to work as fry cooks, cashiers". ABC7. October 6, 2021. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
- ^ "Raising Cane's puts corporate staff to work as fry cooks, cashiers amid staffing shortage". TODAY.com. October 8, 2021. Archived from the original on November 28, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
- ^ "Raising Cane's raises Cain over a lease that bans chicken fingers". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on November 10, 2022. Retrieved December 9, 2022.
- ^ "Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers sues Indiana shopping center after being told it can't sell chicken fingers". Fox 59. November 9, 2022. Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved December 9, 2022.
- ^ "Raising Cane's sues shopping center over chicken finger ban". NewsNation. November 10, 2022. Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved December 9, 2022.
- ^ Jennings, Lisa (April 13, 2023). "This Raising Cane's does it the Post Malone way". Restaurant Business. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
- ^ Hauari, Gabe (June 21, 2023). "Post Malone, Raising Cane's team up to launch exclusive 32 oz collector's cups". USA TODAY. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
- ^ "Post Malone and The Dallas Cowboys Team Up with Raising Cane's to Open First-of-its-Kind Restaurant in Cowboys Country". PR Newswire. October 10, 2023. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
- ^ "Raising Cane's Keeps It Cool This Summer with Ice-T Campaign | Raising Cane's". raisingcanes.com. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
- ^ Guzman, Richard (October 22, 2024). "Raising Cane's opens new location in Encino with a nod towards the area's movie history". dailynews.com. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
- ^ Blake, David (February 9, 2018). "Raising Cane's goes international". WWL News. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
- ^ Yoder, Kaci (November 11, 2015). "First overseas Raising Cane's adapts to the Middle East". 225 Magazine. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
- ^ "Raising Cane's secret sauce: Is Dubai's newest fried chicken restaurant worth the hype?". The National. January 18, 2024. Retrieved November 10, 2024.