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 |
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]
Founders 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]
The 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]
KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC, is an American fast food restaurant chain that specializes in fried chicken. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's second-largest restaurant chain after McDonald's, with over 30,000 locations globally in 150 countries as of April 2024. The chain is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, a restaurant company that also owns the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains.
Subway IP LLC, trading as Subway, is an American multinational fast food restaurant franchise that specializes in submarine sandwiches (subs) and wraps. It was founded by Fred DeLuca and financed by Peter Buck in 1965 as Pete's Super Submarines in Bridgeport, Connecticut. After several name changes, it was renamed Subway in 1972, and a franchise operation began in 1974 with a second restaurant in Wallingford, Connecticut.
Nando's is a South African multinational fast casual chain that specialises in Portuguese flame-grilled peri-peri style chicken. Founded in Johannesburg in 1987, Nando's operates over 1,200 outlets in 30 countries. Their logo depicts the Rooster of Barcelos, one of Portugal's most common symbols. The company was wholly owned by Dick Enthoven until his death in 2022, and is now owned by the family.
Chick-fil-A, Inc. is an American fast food restaurant chain and the largest chain specializing in chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in College Park, Georgia, Chick-fil-A operates 3,059 restaurants across 48 states, as well as in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The company also has operations in Canada, and previously had restaurants in the United Kingdom and South Africa. The restaurant has a breakfast menu, as well as a lunch and dinner menu. The chain also provides catering services. Chick-fil-A calls its specialty the "original chicken sandwich". It is a piece of deep-fried breaded boneless chicken breast served on a toasted bun with two slices of dill pickle, or with lettuce, tomato, and cheese.
Waffle House, Inc. is an American restaurant chain with over 2000 locations in 25 states in the United States. The bulk of the locations are in the Midwest and the South, where the chain is a regional cultural icon. The menu consists mainly of Southern breakfast food. Waffle House is headquartered in Norcross, Georgia, in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Boston Market Corporation, known as Boston Chicken until 1995, is an American fast casual restaurant chain headquartered in Newtown Township, Pennsylvania. Since 2020, it has been owned by Engage Brands, LLC, a company of Rohan Group. Also, frozen meals and side dishes are sold nationally under the Boston Market brand name in food markets. The chain was known for rotisserie chickens, and later branched out into other meats such as turkey, meatloaf, and ham. A common meal had a meat with a few sides such as potatoes, cream spinach, mac n' cheese, and accompanied by a corn bread. Stores sometimes had seasonal specials and they also had a line of sandwiches. It was popular in the 1990s and early 21st century but by the 2020s was in a rapid decline, and by 2024 there was only a couple dozen stores left.
Panda Express is an American fast food restaurant chain that specializes in American Chinese cuisine. With over 2,400 locations, it is the largest Asian-segment restaurant chain in the United States, where it was founded, and is mainly located in North America and Asia. Panda Express restaurants were traditionally located in shopping mall food courts, but the chain now operates units in many other environments and formats, including stand-alone restaurants, as well as universities, casinos, airports, military bases, amusement parks and other venues.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., also known as Popeyes and formerly named Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits and Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken & Biscuits, is an American multinational chain of fried chicken restaurants formed in 1972 in New Orleans and headquartered in Miami. It is currently a subsidiary of Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International. As of 2021, Popeyes has 3,705 restaurants, which are located in more than 46 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 30 countries worldwide. About 50 locations are company-owned; the other ~98% are franchised.
Chicken tenders are chicken meat prepared from the pectoralis minor muscles of the animal. These strips of white meat are located on either side of the breastbone, under the breast meat. They may also be made with similarly shaped pieces cut from chicken meat, usually the breast, or sometimes just pulverized chicken flesh.
Bojangles OpCo, LLC., doing business as Bojangles, is an American regional chain of fast food restaurants that specializes in Cajun-seasoned fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits and primarily serves the Southeastern United States. The company was founded in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1977 by Jack Fulk and Richard Thomas.
McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger stand and later turned the company into a franchise, with the Golden Arches logo being introduced in 1953 at a location in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1955, Ray Kroc, a businessman, joined the company as a franchise agent and, in 1961, bought out the McDonald brothers. Previously headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, it moved to nearby Chicago in June 2018. McDonald's is also a real estate company through its ownership of around 70% of restaurant buildings and 45% of the underlying land.
Wingstop Inc. is an American international chain of restaurants that primarily sells buffalo wings. Wingstop locations are decorated with a 1930s and 1940s pre-jet aviation theme.
A&W is a fast-food restaurant chain in Canada, franchised by A&W Food Services of Canada, Inc.
Mary Brown's Chicken, is a Canadian fast food restaurant with approximately 300 locations across Canada. The chain specializes in fried chicken.
Foosackly's is an American chain of chicken restaurants in coastal Alabama and Northwest Florida.
Todd Bartlett Graves is an American businessman and co-founder of Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, a fast food restaurant specializing in fried chicken finger meals.
Grill'd is an Australian-owned multinational casual dining restaurant chain specializing in healthier, quick service burgers, both for dine-in and takeaway. Founded by Simon Crowe in 2004, located in Hawthorn, Melbourne, the company has expanded to 172 locations across Australia and one in Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia. Grill'd offers a variety of meat and plant-based burgers, chips and salads, focusing on fresh, local sourced, and ethically raised ingredients.
Sweetgreen is an American fast casual restaurant chain that serves salads. It was founded in November 2006 by Nicolas Jammet, Nathaniel Ru, and Jonathan Neman. In August 2007, they opened their first store in Washington, D.C., three months after they graduated from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., trading as Cracker Barrel, is an American chain of restaurant and gift stores with a Southern country theme. The company's headquarters are in Lebanon, Tennessee, where Cracker Barrel was founded by Dan Evins and Tommy Lowe in 1969. The chain's early locations were positioned near Interstate Highway exits in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States, but expanded across the country during the 1990s and 2000s. As of August 10, 2023, the company operates 660 stores in 45 states.
Dave's Hot Chicken is an American fast casual restaurant chain specializing in Nashville-style hot chicken.
Opening Day: After finally getting the cash registers to work, Raising Cane's opened on August 28th, 1996.