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 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.[10][11][12]
International expansion
The
chain first began expanding internationally in 2015, opening its first restaurant in
Kuwait.[13] The namesake mascot, a dog, is not seen on signage and merchandise, as dogs are not popular in Kuwait due to religious reasons.[14]
COVID-19 pandemic
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.[15]
In 2021, in response to a shortage of workers, the company began dispatching hundreds[16] of 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.[17] The company's co-CEO said that corporate employees are trained in the kitchen and on the register under normal circumstances.[18]
References
^"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.