Louisiana fast-food chain Raising Cane’s has plans to come to Delaware

Raising Cane’s, a fast-food chain founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, specializing in chicken fingers, has plans to expand to Delaware.

Details on the company’s First State moves are sparse, but a company spokesperson did confirm Raising Cane’s is planning to open in Wilmington early next year. They did not share where specifically the restaurant will be located.

Raising Cane’s is shown as a standalone restaurant with a drive-thru in plans for The Grove at Newark, the redeveloped College Square shopping center between Library Avenue and Marrows Road.

“Cane’s is continuously evaluating opportunities to grow restaurants in the state,” Russell Ford, senior vice president of marketing for Champion Management, a public relations firm that represents Raising Cane’s, said in a statement. “We will make a public announcement in the future as new locations are determined and details firm up.”

What’s on Raising Cane’s menu?

Raising Cane’s essentially makes one item: chicken fingers.

Most of the menu items are different-sized combo meals with fingers, crinkle-cut fries, coleslaw and the company’s signature Cane’s sauce. The only deviation is the chicken sandwich, which is three chicken fingers on a bun.

The restaurant uses only chicken breast tenderloins, the strip of meat on the underside of a chicken breast that is considered a premium cut in the poultry business, and these are never frozen. The tenders are hand-dipped to order.

Raising Cane’s has been rapidly expanding across the country. Ten years ago, the chain had about 125 locations. Entering 2022, it had about 600 restaurants after adding roughly 50 locations per year in the previous four years. The company plans to open 100 locations in 2022.

Raising Cane’s does not currently offer franchises and is instead “focused on the rapid development of company-affiliated restaurant in a very specific geography,” according to its website.

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HEADING TO DELAWARE: Boot Barn to open first Delaware location in Stanton

The first Raising Cane’s opened in an old Baton Rouge bakery in 1996. Founder Todd Graves and business partner Craig Silvey supposedly took inspiration from a business class project they completed together at Louisiana State University years earlier.

Their plan then for a restaurant serving nothing but chicken fingers apparently received low marks from their professor who said it would never work.

The fast-food chicken market in Delaware already has several competitors who are also growing. Chick-fil-A opened two locations in New Castle County last year, giving the chain 15 statewide with one more in the works in Newark on Ogletown Road.

At least two new Popeyes are in development on South Maryland Avenue near Elsmere and on Route 273 in Ogletown.

Colbie’s Southern Kissed Chicken, a new concept from the Colby Restaurant Group, owners of Chuck Lager-America’s Tavern in Pike Creek and several Red Robin restaurants, opened its second-ever location in Stanton last September.

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Contact Brandon Holveck at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @holveck_brandon.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Raising Cane’s has plans to come to Delaware. Here’s where to find it