Raising Cane’s is expanding its fast-food chicken finger concept along the Western U.S. after opening its first restaurant in Seattle last month.
The chicken chain, with headquarters in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, reported a total of more than 950 restaurants in the U.S. and Middle East. It has plans to open a restaurant March 17 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, with other locations planned for Washington and Oregon later this year.
The Idaho location is one of a half-dozen restaurants across the country slated to open by the middle of this month from Los Angeles to Ocala, Florida, according to its website.
Chicken has been a growing category in the U.S. dining sector, with Raising Cane’s competing in the chicken finger arena with such upstart chains as Layne's Chicken Fingers and other national players such as Chick-fil-A, KFC, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Church’s Texas Chicken.
The chain on Feb. 17 opened a restaurant that filled a corner space in Seattle University District that has been vacant for almost nine years since an American Apparel store closed in 2017.
Raising Cane’s plans to open a second location next summer in the Puget Sound region at 1232 SW 164th St. in Lynnwood, north of Seattle. A restaurant in the north Puget Sound city of Burlington is slated to open in 2027.
The chain founded by entrepreneur Todd Graves opened its first Pacific Northwest restaurant in downtown Portland in 2019. Raising Cane's has opened stores in Spokane and Vancouver, Washington, and is exploring opening locations this year in Eugene, Springfield and Gresham, Oregon, according to the Portland Business Journal.
The long-range target of the chain — which opened 100 restaurants last year and expects to equal that total in 2026 — is to have 1,600 locations nationwide.
The company is also expanding beyond the U.S.
The chain last year announced plans for a store in London’s Piccadilly Circus to open late this year. The firm signed a development agreement in December with Mexico City-based Alsea, a large operator with restaurants under multiple brands in Latin America and Europe, calling for the first Mexico location to open in the second half of 2026.
Raising Cane's is slated to open locations in San Jose, California, and Ocala, Florida, this week. The chain is also scheduled to open restaurants in Birmingham, Alabama; Buckeye, Arizona; and Los Angeles this month, according to its website.