Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers (commonly known as Cane's) is a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in chicken fingers, that was founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by Todd Graves and Craig Silvey on August 26, 1996. While company headquarters remain in Louisiana, a second restaurant support office was opened in Plano, Texas in 2009.
Video Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers
History
Todd Graves first started dreaming of his very own restaurant in the early 1990s. Craig Silvey, an initial partner in Todd's plan, was enrolled in a business plan writing course at LSU at the time. They wrote the business plan and Silvey turned it in, for which Silvey received a "B-". Although the business plan was rejected numerous times by potential investors, Graves set out to earn the money he needed to start the restaurant, first by working in refineries in California, then by fishing for sockeye salmon in Alaska. He and Silvey then obtained an SBA loan, which they used to open the first restaurant in Baton Rouge at the intersection of Highland Road and State Street near the LSU campus. They even drew on the help of friends and family for some of the work on Cane's 1, and many of these names are carved in the restaurant woodwork. Originally, the small restaurant competed against a similarly themed drive-in called Bailey's Chicken Fingers on the opposite end of the campus. By 1999, however, it was able to prove itself the more successful business: it forced Bailey's out of business, becoming the only chicken-finger focused restaurant in the area.
In mid-1999, Silvey sold his stake to Graves to focus on completing an MBA at Wake Forest University and work in Silicon Valley. Later, Graves asked Silvey to return as vice president of finance and information technology.
By 2008, the chain had grown to over 50 locations. Most of the locations are in Louisiana, particularly in the Baton Rouge area. The first location outside of Baton Rouge was opened in 2001 in Lafayette--since then, new restaurants have been opened in 23 other states, in addition to all eight metropolitan areas of Louisiana. Graves plans to continue expansion of the chain throughout the United States and internationally, one each in Kuwait (opened September 2015) & Bahrain (opened September 2016), plus three in Saudi Arabia (first had opened February 2017), Lebanon (opened December 2017) & United Arab Emirates (opened in March 2018). Today there are over 370 locations in 24 states. Tennessee opened one in Knoxville in September 2014. California has 9 West Coast locations, all but four in Orange County: the first opened in late October 2015 in Costa Mesa; the second in early December in Aliso Viejo; the third in early March 2016 in Orange; the fourth had opened in mid-June in Laguna Hills; the fifth opened in mid-February 2018 in La Habra, the state's 8th. Los Angeles County's first location opened in Downey in late August 2016; by March 2018, the second in the county & the state's 9th opened in Lakewood. Riverside County opened the state's 6th store in Riverside in October 2017. San Bernardino opened the state's 7th store in mid-January 2018. 5 others are planned to open later in the year: Menifee, Ontario, Santee, Temecula & Upland. Kansas opened its very first in Lawrence in early May 2016; the second opened in Overland Park in early October; and a 3rd had opened in Shawnee in late August 2017. Iowa opened its very first in Council Bluffs in mid-October 2016. Illinois has 6 Chicago area locations, all but one in Cook County: they opened its very first in North Riverside, a Chicago suburb in late January 2017; the second opened in mid-February in Oak Lawn; the third opened in Naperville in late April; the 4th had opened in Harwood Heights in late September; the 5th had opened in Evergreen Park in late October; the Windy City itself opened one near Loyola campus in March 2018, the state's 6th. New Mexico's first location opened in Las Cruces in mid-February, the chain's 24th state; and will plan to open more in Albuquerque & Santa Fe in the future.
In January 2009, the company opened a second restaurant support office in Plano, Texas. In June 2011 it opened its 100th restaurant in Laurel, Mississippi. In February 2013 it opened its 150th location in San Antonio, Texas. The milestone 250th location opened in December 2015 in Lake Jackson, Texas. By November 2016 Houston, Texas hosted the milestone 300th restaurant's opening, on Rice & Westpark Tollway; and in late October 2017 Stillwater, Oklahoma was the site of the milestone 350th store.
CEO Graves and the chain have given more than 25 percent of their profits back to the communities where restaurants operate with an emphasis on schools, food banks, active lifestyles, canine assistance and business and entrepreneur organizations.
Name
Graves and Silvey, who both worked as salmon fishermen in Alaska to raise money to open the first Raising Cane's restaurant, were going to name the chain Sockeye's Chicken Fingers, after the Sockeye salmon they fished for. They were later convinced to name it after Graves's dog, a yellow Labrador, "Raising Cane," called "Cane" for short. "Raising Cane I" died of old age, Raising Cane II died on 11 September 2016, and the most recent mascot for the restaurant, Raising Cane III, was announced by Graves on 27 January 2018.
Maps Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers
Logo
The original Raising Cane's was established in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the North Gates of Louisiana State University, at the intersection of East State Street and Highland Road. When remodeling the building, Graves discovered a hand painted sign featuring the logo from a previous business, Wolf's Bakery, under the cracking plaster on the south interior wall. It is a takeoff on the one for the bakery. The remains are still visible and intact on the wall inside the restaurant.
Menu
Raising Cane's offers a limited menu consisting of four main combos: "The Box Combo," "The 3-Finger Combo," "The Caniac Combo" and "The Sandwich Combo." It also includes a Kid's Meal and several sizes of bulk chicken items called Tailgates.
Most of its restaurants use Coca-Cola as their primary soft drink supplier, but some, like Richmond, Virginia, use Pepsi. All of the restaurants do serve lemonade as well as iced tea.
Sauce
Cane's Sauce is provided with all chicken finger meals and is the signature sauce of the restaurant; customers may opt for Louisiana hot sauce and/or honey mustard sauce for free. Only managers at Cane's have access to the recipe. They are held to a confidentiality agreement regarding any details about the recipe, which features a mix of spices that come packaged to each restaurant.
References
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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