Raising Cane's new Royal Palm Beach location at 100 N. State Road 7. [Photo by Palms West Journal]
Three weeks after Raising Cane’s opened its first Palm Beach County chicken finger restaurant in Boynton Beach, the international chain opened in Royal Palm Beach on May 23.
And for the second time in three weeks, the loyal fan base known as Caniacs came out in droves for the five meal packages of marinated, hand-battered chicken fingers and secret-recipe sauce.
A ceremonial ribbon-cutting featured Royal Palm Beach Mayor Fred Pinto and members of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Palm Beach County. The Royal Palm Beach High School marching band and cheer squad performed. Early arrivals received T-shirts, and a drawing awarded 20 customers free Cane’s for a year.
“The first guy in line said he’d arrived here at 4 a.m.,” says C.J. Clement, Raising Cane’s area leader of restaurants. “We’ve been well-received by the community and by South Florida in general.”
Intermittent rain fell as drive-through customers waited in two lines long enough to require police officers to direct traffic, and the interior was jam-packed with young people, mostly students, by lunch time. A deejay played pop and dance music under a tent in the parking lot, adding to the party atmosphere in spite of the inclement weather. Under an adjacent tent, area leader of recruiting Val Cuadra talked applicants through numerous job interviews.
“I was also at the Boynton Beach opening, and it was like this there as well,” says Dayja Cruz, the Cane’s marketing leader from Miami-Dade County to Palm Beach County. “With the growth we’re experiencing, it’s insane.”
CEO Todd Graves opened the first Raising Cane’s in his native Louisiana in 1996 and named the Baton Rouge restaurant after his beloved Labrador retriever. Cane III, born in 2017, carries on the bloodline and mascot legacy.
Raising Cane’s now has more than 725 locations in the United States, the Middle East and Guam. Florida has seven, including Miami Beach and Homestead in South Florida.
At the Boynton Beach opening, Raising Cane’s made a donation to Congress Community Middle School. For the Royal Palm Beach opening, the chain donated to Christ Fellowship Church.
“They let us use their parking lot” during the opening celebration, Cruz says, “and we’re so grateful.”
Raising Cane’s is at 100 N. State Road 7, at the intersection with Southern Boulevard. It’s open 10 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
For further information, call 561-237-1277, or visit raisingcanes.com.
