Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers

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Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers is a chain of fast-food restaurants founded by Todd Graves and Craig Silvey on August 26, 1996. The restaurant chain offers fried chicken fingers as its only main course (hence their mantra of "One Love").

1 Menu
2 Name
3 Logo
4 Cane's Sauce
5 History
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Menu

"The Box" is Raising Cane's most popular combo.

The Raising Cane's menu is small, containing only four combos plus a Kid's Meal and Tailgate Boxes. The Box combo comes with four chicken fingers, coleslaw, crinkle-cut fries, Texas toast, Cane's Sauce, and a 22 ounce drink. The Caniac combo is the same as "The Box", only with six chicken fingers, two Cane's Sauces, and a 32 ounce drink. The 3 Finger Combo combo comes with three chicken fingers, crinkle-cut fries, Texas toast, Cane's Sauce, and a drink. The Sandwich combo comes with three chicken fingers on a Kaiser Roll with lettuce and Cane's Sauce, crinkle-cut fries, and a drink. The Sandwich combo can also come on Texas toast instead of a Kaiser Roll. The Kid's Meal comes with 2 chicken fingers, crinkle cut fries, Cane's Sauce, 12 ounce drink, and a prize. The Tailgate Box can come in either 25, 50, 75, or 100 chicken fingers and each come with cane's sauce in increments of 5 sauces per 25 fingers. The coleslaw that comes with the Box and Caniac combos can be replaced by extra toast, extra fries, or extra Cane's Sauce. The Texas Toast comes standard buttered only on one side, but customers may ask for the toast to be buttered on both sides, or "double-buttered." It is also possible to exchange fries for extra toast. It is true that the chicken is fresh and never frozen. In fact, the only item that is stored frozen is the fries. The lemonade is another one of their specialties. It is sold primarily through the summer (and into the fall). All of their drinks are served over crushed ice.

[edit] Name

Graves, having previously worked as a salmon fisherman in Alaska, 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" for short.^[1] Currently, the mascot for the restaurant is Raising Cane II.

[edit] Logo

The mural at the original Cane's location on Highland Rd in Baton Rouge

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.

[edit] Cane's Sauce

Cane's Sauce is provided with all chicken finger meals and is regarded a signature of the restaurant, but customers may also ask for honey mustard. The sauce's ingredients are the subject of some speculation. Employees at Cane's corporate offices are held to a confidentiality agreement regarding any details about the recipe. Known ingredients are mayonnaise, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, and black pepper, but the precise ratio is unknown. The sauce has a striking similarity to the sauce at chicken restaurant Guthrie's which was started in 1965 and has a similar menu.^[2]

[edit] History

The original Cane's location at 3313 Highland Rd, Baton Rouge (at the gates of LSU)

Prior to founding the chain, Graves and Silvey received many objections from those assessing their business plan, including financiers and business school academics. After many unsuccessful applications for finance, they obtained a loan which they used to open the first outlet at the north gate entrance to Louisiana State University (a university which Cane's is now a major corporate sponsor for, creating such things as the Cane's Challenge) in Baton Rouge.

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 director of finance and vice president of 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 where the first locations were opened. The first location outside of Baton Rouge was opened in 2001 in Lafayette, Louisiana. There are also locations in Mississippi, Texas, Colorado, Georgia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Nevada, Alabama, Virginia, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Graves plans to continue expansion of his restaurant chain throughout the United States and internationally.