Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers is continuing its march across Tennessee, opening its newest Chattanooga-area restaurant last week at 1833 Gunbarrel Road.
The fast-growing chain, known nationally for its minimalist menu and cult-favorite Cane’s Sauce, is the company’s second Chattanooga-area location following a Hixson opening in January that Doug Haley, area leader of restaurants for Raising Cane’s, says has performed well.
“The Gunbarrel location has been in the works for a while,” adds Haley. “We think Chattanooga is a vibrant community, and we want to continue to expand our presence across it.”
While the brand is already known across the Southeast, Haley acknowledges that some local residents have yet to try it. For the uninitiated, he offers a simple explanation: Cane’s is a specialist, not a generalist.
“We have a very focused menu,” Haley says. “We do one thing and we call it our ‘One Love.’ That’s our chicken finger meals.”
That “One Love” consists of five items: chicken fingers, crinkle-cut fries, coleslaw, Cane’s Sauce and Texas toast. The company marinates its chicken for 24 hours, cooks every meal to order and prepares its coleslaw and signature sauce in-house.
Even the toast is a point of pride - and a point of customization.
“It’s Texas toast with garlic butter,” Haley says. “I recommend doing butter on both sides. We call it a ‘BOB.’ More butter is better for sure.”
Cane’s Sauce, meanwhile, remains a carefully guarded secret.
“It’s a tangy sauce with a special blend of spices and other fun things,” Haley smiles. “It pairs perfectly with our chicken, which is what everybody comes for.”
Despite the crowded landscape on Gunbarrel Road, Haley says Cane’s isn’t trying to position itself against any particular rival. Within a short stretch of the busy commercial corridor, diners can already find Dave’s Hot Chicken, Popeyes, Chicken Salad Chick and Chick-fil-A, with Zaxby’s sitting just around the corner on Shallowford Road. Haley acknowledges the cluster but keeps the brand’s focus inward.
“I don’t want to knock a competitor by any means,” he says. “We’re focused on what we do and not on what our competition is doing. We do one thing, and we do it at a very high level.”
A scrappy origin story
Founded in 1996, Raising Cane’s now operates more than 950 restaurants in 43 states and a growing international footprint. But Haley says the brand has never forgotten its unlikely beginnings.
“It’s actually a really cool story,” he says.
In the early 1990s, Cane’s founder Todd Graves was a college student at LSU with an idea for a restaurant that would serve only chicken fingers. His professor gave the business plan the lowest grade in the class. Bankers in Baton Rouge were equally unimpressed.
“They told him a chicken-finger-only restaurant would never be successful,” Haley says.
So Graves took matters into his own hands, heading west to work grueling shifts in California oil refineries and then hitchhiking to Alaska to work as a commercial sockeye salmon fisherman.
He lived in a tent on frozen tundra for more than a month before securing a job on a boat.
Graves eventually returned to Baton Rouge with enough savings to open the first Raising Cane’s at the north gates of LSU in August 1996. Nearly 30 years later, the recipe hasn’t changed.
A booming workforce
The Gunbarrel Road restaurant employs more than 115 crew members and an eight-person management team – a hiring surge Haley says reflects both the brand’s growth and its emphasis on service.
“We brought over 120 jobs to the Chattanooga community,” he says. “It’s part of how we give back. We want to serve.”
Leading up to the opening, Cane’s held a two-and-a-half-week hiring event at the nearby Drury Hotel, conducting more than 1,000 interviews. For many applicants, the job is their first.
“We’ve hired some minors, and it’s their first job,” Haley says. “We want parents to feel good about us being that experience for their kids.”
Once the restaurant keys were handed over, a national “growth team” of trainers arrived to prepare the new staff – a practice Cane’s repeats at every opening.
“When you open a new restaurant, you’re building a culture from scratch, and it’s important that we have a phenomenal management team,” Haley says. “We work hard but we also have fun.”
The fun is visible: disco balls hang inside the restaurant, music plays at a steady pulse and the chain hosted a drawing that awarded 20 guests free Cane’s for a year.
As part of its opening week, Raising Cane’s also presented checks to the Siskin Children’s Institute and McKamey Animal Center, part of its companywide approach to opening in new markets.
“We want to give back to the communities that support us,” Haley says. “It’s important to us as an organization.”
High expectations
Haley says he’s enjoyed the enthusiasm locals have shown. Wearing Cane’s gear around town led to a wave of questions: “When are you opening? How soon can I get the sauce? Can I bring a tailgate tray to the game?”
The chain’s tailgate options – 25, 50, 75 or 100 chicken fingers with sauce – have already drawn attention from fans and sports-watchers, Haley adds.
For diners concerned about rising food prices, he argues Cane’s remains competitive.
“A Box Combo is $11.49 plus tax,” he says. “You get four chicken fingers, fries, toast, coleslaw and Cane’s Sauce. If you don’t like coleslaw, you can sub it out at no charge. For a fresh, never-frozen, cooked-to-order meal, it’s absolutely a great price point.”
A growing future in Chattanooga
Haley says he came away from the hiring process and first weeks of community interaction with a clear impression of Chattanooga.
“I love it. It’s a vibrant community,” he says. “We’re excited to finally get this restaurant open and start serving everyone.”
As for his go-to order? The Box Combo, also known as “the perfect box.”
“Four chicken fingers, fries, toast, Cane’s Sauce and coleslaw,” he says. “And I have to do BOB on my toast.”
For Raising Cane’s, the opening in Gunbarrel marks another milestone – and if Haley gets his way, another step toward wider expansion across Chattanooga.