Raising Cane’s has accelerated restaurant openings this year

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Raising Cane’s was one of the fastest growing chains in Technomic’s Top 500 report from 2024 and its momentum doesn't appear to have slowed this year.

Raising Cane’s footprint grew by 13.9% in 2024 compared to 2023, ending the year with 828 locations. This equates to just over 100 restaurants added during the year.

The chain is expecting to open 14 restaurants nationwide in December, with openings in Florida (2), California (3), Tennessee, Nevada, New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Georgia scheduled. Included in these openings is the brand’s first-ever theme park location, at Universal CityWalk in California, expected to open Dec. 11.

This is on top of 11 restaurant openings in November, putting the chain on pace to surpass its 2024 growth. 

“With major openings throughout 2025, Raising Cane’s continues to show its commitment to serving even more communities across the country. These latest fall openings underscore the brand’s bold growth plans to own and operate more than 1,600 Restaurants nationwide and become a top 10 U.S. restaurant brand by the end of the decade,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.

Raising Cane’s finished No. 18 in Technomic’s 2024 report, based on sales, which were up 32% year-over-year to $5 billion. For context on its recent trajectory, the chain was No. 46 in 2018 and didn’t break into the top 30 until 2023. 

In 2015, Nation’s Restaurant News named it the fourth fastest growing chain in the industry, breaking into the top 100 at No. 95. Since then, it has jockeyed past nearly every chicken chain with the exception of Popeyes and Chick-fil-A, passing Boston Market, Wingstop, El Pollo Loco, Church’s Texas Chicken, Bojangles, Zaxbys, and, in the past year, KFC. KFC fell from No. 16 in 2023 to No. 20 in 2024, registering just over $4.9 billion in sales — a 5.2% year-over-year drop.

“Our next aspiration is to be a top 10 restaurant brand in the U.S. Think of the big boys — McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Starbucks, Subway — companies that have been open a lot longer than we have,” founder Todd Graves said last year. “We are going to hit $10 billion in sales, average unit volumes of $8 million, and 1,600 restaurants in all major cities and new international locations around the world. We’ll have 150,000 crew members including 16,000 internal promotes. And we’ll give back $100 million to communities. Imagine what we’ll be able to give back to our communities once we become a top 10 brand.”

Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]

Follow her on TikTok: @aliciakelso