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One of the nation’s fastest-growing restaurant chains is planning to enter the Indianapolis area with two locations.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers is advertising for managers to oversee restaurants in Noblesville and Avon that will open late this year.
The Avon location, 8970 E. U.S. Highway 36, is slated to open in November. The Noblesville restaurant, at Campus Parkway and Cabela Parkway near Hamilton Town Center, is expected to open in December.
Often referred to as just “Cane’s” by its growing customer base—the 26-year-old chain features a limited menu that consists of deep-fried chicken fingers with dipping sauce, crinkle-cut fries, coleslaw, Texas toast and soft drinks.
Raising Cane’s was ranked 33rd on this year’s Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report after exploding both in sales and locations in recent years.
The chain has about 640 restaurants in more than 30 states after adding 52 restaurants in 2020, 69 in 2021 and at least 40 so far in 2022. Raising Cane’s is on pace to open about 100 restaurants this year alone.
More than 80 percent of Raising Cane’s restaurants are company-owned, with restaurants averaging nearly $5 million in annual sales. Chainwide sales grew 38% from 2020 to 2021, to $2.37 billion, according to Restaurant Business.
Indiana got its first Raising Cane’s in late 2020 when one opened in Mishawaka. Another opened in West Lafayette in April 2021.
More Hoosier locations are slated for Bloomington (opening in August), Muncie (2023) and Merrillville.
Raising Cane’s was named after co-founder Todd Graves’ Labrador retriever. Graves worked at a refinery in California and as a salmon fisherman in Alaska to raise enough money to open the first Raising Cane’s in 1996 just outside Louisiana State University.
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While I’m all for more variety in local fast food, “deep-fried chicken fingers with dipping sauce, crinkle-cut fries, coleslaw, Texas toast and soft drinks” sounds exactly like about half a dozen other places we already have. Let’s hope things pan out for them.
I agree! I would like some healthy fast food choices in Avon. More fried food is not on my menu.
Yet another new business that like so many others, all head for the same places. They go to Eastern Hendricks, South Eastern Boone or just about any part of Hamilton Counties. And as the other poster related, they don’t have anything that stands out more than dozens of other similar businesses. There are other places around the Indy area that could stand to have this new blood.
When everyone goes to the same place, it really limits their chances for success.
When do we see the new fish sticks restaurant? Somehow Mac and cheese became cool and is now a $15 entree. Good for them and if it’s selling, rock on, but I can’t see saying “hey! Let’s go eat at that place that specializes in chicken fingers!”
Slightly unrelated, but whatever happened to the place that was going to sell breakfast cereal in malls? IBJ, can we get an update?
I think the breakfast cereal place opened for a short while in Greenwood Park Mall