SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento will be the latest addition to Raising Cane's Northern California expansion in a matter of days.
Raising Cane's is a fast food chain known for their chicken fingers. According to their website, the company emphasizes a limited menu that helps them produce high quality food that's served quickly.
Sacramento was always one of the targets when Raising Cane's started expanding in the area, but it's taken them some time to get to the city and set an opening day.
"Obviously as we opened in Northern California, we knew we were going to come out to the Sacramento market. It was really just finding the right site and the right time to develop it - but here we are," said Chris Zygler, regional leader for the restaurants.
The Sacramento location along El Camino near Watt Avenue has been constructed for some time, but there's been some delays related to supply chain issues and equipment.
While the Sacramento arrival has been in progress, the company didn't waste time. They expanded in the surrounding area, breaking a number of their own records along the way.
"Manteca was a record-setting opening for us, and we've had several record-setting openings after that in Northern California. So our customer base is really strong. We're crazy about them, and they're crazy about us," said Zygler.
Other overperforming areas included Davis, which doesn't even have a drive-thru. After the opening, the company said it had the highest volume opening in the country for a non-drive-thru location. Vacaville, Elk Grove and Citrus Heights were also standout openings.
In total, the Zygler said the Northern California expansion has resulted in nearly 2,000 jobs.
"We're really excited to be growing crew members careers," said Zygler. "We have people who have started as hourly crew members who are now shift managers or operations managers for us. Some of them have turned into salaried leadership for us."
However, there are still more stores to come. Zygler said the company has eyes on San Jose, East Bay and areas north of Sacramento.
Raising Cane's is aiming to open about 100 restaurants a year, company wide, with Northern California accounting for roughly 10-20 of those locations. Fairfield and Yuba City are expected to be among them.
Sacramento's first Raising Cane's opens May 4 at El Camino and Watt Avenue, bringing jobs to about 150 people. Celebrations will include a DJ and a raffle that could net someone free chicken fingers for a year. The raffle starts at 7 a.m. on opening day.
"If there's a Raising Cane's in your neighborhood, please reach out to us on things we can do. We can do fundraisers, we do some sponsorships, but really, we don't want to just operate within a community and just be extracting sales from a community. We really want to be giving back," said Zygler.
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