Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers applied for a permit to build at 8308 Merchants Way in Oakleaf Station, which will be its first Jacksonville location.
The site is at southwest Argyle Forest Boulevard and Merchants Way between Gator’s Dockside and Bank of America in front of Epic Theatres.
No contractor is specified for the 3,457-square-foot project on 1.21 acres at an estimated project cost of $1.35 million. The restaurant will have outdoor seating on a patio, a drive-thru and a free-standing canopy.
The building size is shown at almost 2,900 square feet of conditioned space within the building footprint.
A building statistics table says the restaurant will have 71 seats and 35 patio seats.
The project team comprises owner Raising Cane’s Restaurants L.L.C. of Plano Texas, and in headquarters at Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Zebra Architecture PLLC of Scottsdale, Arizona; and civil engineer Kimley-Horn of Vero Beach.
Sleiman Enterprises is developer of Oakleaf Station, which is in Southwest Jacksonville.
About Cane’s
The 28-year-old chain’s menu comprises box combos of chicken fingers fries, coleslaw, Cane’s Sauce, Texas toast and drinks. The sandwich combo comprises three fingers on a toasted bun.
Tailgates can be ordered in 25, 50, 75 and 100 chicken fingers.
Drinks include sweet and unsweet tea, lemonade and fountain drinks.
Extras include a chicken finger, sauce, crinkle-cut fries, Texas toast and coleslaw.
The ScrapeHero.com research site says there are about 750 Raising Cane’s restaurants in 42 states and U.S. territories.
RaisingCanes.com shows 17 locations in Florida, with the closest in Gainesville and four in the Orlando area.
Florida is a new state for the company. The first opened in November 2022 in Homestead. “With over 200 Caniacs lined up early morning to be the first Florida customers, the enthusiasm for Cane’s in Florida is already strong,” raisingcanes.com reported.
The Nation’s Restaurant News trade publication reports that Todd Graves founded the brand in 1996 in an old building that he renovated at the north gates to the Louisiana State University campus.
It said Graves based it on a business plan he created in college, for which he received low marks.
“The restaurant concept is named for Graves’ yellow Labrador retriever at the time, Raising Cane, who accompanied him at the construction site,” the NRN.com site says.
“Graves originally planned to call the brand ‘Sockeye’s’ after the salmon he fished in Alaska to help raise money to start the business. A third dog, Raising Cane III, joined the family in 2017.”
NRN.com says Raising Cane’s concept is simple and based on its “One Love” - chicken finger meals.
“The company declines to ‘clutter’ its menu with new products that don’t fit in the core menu offering,” it says.
Tenders trend
Raising Cane’s joins the area’s chicken fingers and chicken tenders growth as Slim Chickens also plans its first location in Glen Kernan Park and Dave’s Hot Chicken intends to open in St. Johns Town Center.
Other chicken tender chains include Huey Magoo’s, Zaxby’s, Chick-fil-A, PDQ, KFC, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and other fast-food and fast-casual restaurants and grocery stores.
Raising Cane’s posted a job opening July 31 for a “Growth Restaurant Leader” in North Florida. The position is responsible for providing strategic direction for each new restaurant opening they support.