Fans of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers came together Aug. 8 to celebrate the one love of restaurant’s food.
The eatery, which is one of the fastest growing chicken finger concepts, opened its doors to the public at 938 N. Leavitt Road in Amherst.
This is the second Raising Cane’s in Lorain County, the 10th in metro Cleveland and the 734th restaurant overall.
Raising Cane’s has a location at 35545 Chester Road in Avon.
“It has just been fantastic to be a part of this community,” said Ian Strapp, area leader of marketing for Raising Cane’s. “The community has welcomed us in with open arms, and I have been able to build a great relationship with the athletic director at Steele High School.”
First opening in 1996 under founder and CEO Todd Graves, Raising Cane’s has a long history of innovation and hard work that still continues to this day, Strapp said.
“When our founder, Todd Graves first approached people with the idea for his chicken finger restaurant, they said it would never work,” Strapp said. “This led him to move to L.A. where he took a job as a boilermaker working 90 hour weeks.
“From there, he moved to Alaska where he worked 20 hour days fishing commercially for sockeye salmon.”
Upon returning to the lower 48 states, Graves had earned just enough money to get a Small Business Administration loan and began restaurant construction in his hometown of Baton Rouge, La., Strapp said.
Less than 30 years later, the chain has grown to include 734 stores across 35 states as well as the Middle East and Guam.
“Those in the Cleveland area have shown their true caniac colors over the years, and we’re happy to bring that one love to the westside with our new restaurant in Amherst,” said Taylor Zupancic, area lead of restaurants for Raising Cane’s. “One of our big pillars for Cane’s is an active community as well as athletics and education, and so to support our local athletics, has been amazing.”
The Steele High Athletics Program led by director Casey Wolf, received an $1,800 check from the restaurant as a thanks for the support.
In addition, the cheerleaders and marching band members from Steele High along with mascot Comet Man, joined in on the fun.
“It is always great when you get businesses that want to support our schools,” Wolf said. “We are very happy to be here and be a part of the celebrations.”
Raising Cane’s is open from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to to midnight, Friday and Saturday, where it will serve Amherst caniacs through its double drive-thru, mobile-app, takeout, dining room and patio.
Also, 20 customers joined the “Lucky 20” club where they received a gift card for free Cane’s food for a year.
“We are so lucky to have the support we have in this community,” Strapp said. “And we look forward to supporting and sharing our ‘One Love’ of chicken fingers with everyone.”
