"Raising Cane" redirects here. For the 1992 film, see Raising Cain.

Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers is a fast-food restaurant chain founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana by Todd Graves and Craig Silvey on August 261996. The restaurant offers fried chicken fingers as its only main course. Raising Cane's total revenue in 2007 was $97.3 million.

History

The initial concept for Raising Cane's comes from a concept developed by Graves for a business class project at LSU, for which he received a "C". Although the business plan was rejected numerous times by potential investors, Graves and Silvey obtained a loan, which they used to open the first outlet in Baton Rouge at the intersection of Highland Road and East State Street near LSU. Originally competing against a similarly-themed drive-in called Bailey's Chicken Fingers on the opposite end of the campus, by 1999, Raising Cane's was able to prove itself the more successful business: it bought out Bailey's, 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 to Cane's as vice president of finance and information technology.

By 2006, 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, Louisiana—since then, new stores have been opened in Mississippi, Texas, Colorado, Georgia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Nevada, Alabama, Virginia, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Graves plans to continue expansion of his restaurant chain throughout the United States and internationally.

Name

Graves, having previously worked as a salmon fisherman in Alaska to raise money to open the first Raising Cane's restaurant, was going to name the chain Sockeyes Chicken Fingers, after the Sockeye salmon he fished for. He was later convinced to name it after his dog, a yellow labrador, "Raising Cane", called "Cane's" for short. Currently, the mascot for the restaurant is Raising Cane II.

Logo

The Raising Cane's logo is a takeoff on the logo for another business that had been located at the site of the original Cane's in Baton Rouge, Louisiana -- Wolf's Bakery. The mural featuring Wolf's logo was discovered when the building was being remodeled for Cane's, and is still intact on the wall there.

Menu

The Cane's menu originally consisted of two options: "The Box" (composed of five chicken fingers, coleslaw, crinkle-cut fries, Texas toast and Cane's Sauce) and "The Sandwich" (three chicken fingers on a Kaiser roll with lettuce and Cane's Sauce). Both meals could be ordered with a drink. Following expansion of the franchise, the menu expanded first to standardized combos (and reducing The Box from 5 fingers to 4 fingers), then to include items such as "The 3-Finger Meal" (three fingers, one Cane's sauce, fries, Texas toast, and a 21-ounce drink), "The Caniac" combo (six chicken fingers, two Cane's sauces, extra fries, coleslaw, Texas toast, and a 32-ounce drink), the "Kid's Meal" (two fingers, fries, one Cane's sauce, a child-size drink, juice, or milk, and a sticker pack), and the "Tailgate Box", which offers sets of 25, 50, 75, or 100 chicken fingers and accompanying sauce.

Sauces

Cane's Sauce is provided with all chicken finger meals and is a signature of the restaurant. All Cane's employees were at one time held to a confidentiality agreement regarding any details about the recipe, but that is no longer the case. Ingredients include mayonnaise, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, and black pepper, but the precise ratio is unknown. Honey mustard is also made fresh daily and is available as a substitute for the Cane's sauce at some locations.

External links

• Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers website

References