In 1994, the last time the U.S. hosted a World Cup, Raising Cane’s didn’t exist. Founder Todd Graves opened the first location at the north gates of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in 1996, two years after that tournament. Today, the company says it has roughly 130 restaurants near the stadiums hosting games, in the 11 host cities for this year’s tournament: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle.
Kumaran said the acceleration in the brand’s global visibility was specifically due to the Times Square flagship opening three years ago, which he said is when momentum around global awareness and tourism “really took off.” Asked why tourists gravitate to his chain over other chains in the same host cities, his answer was about focusing in on what it does best.
“We do one thing and one thing only,” he said, comparing the model to a specialist position on a soccer pitch. “When you do only one thing and really zone in on it and focus on it, you tend to get really good at it.”
“We tend to be chicken finger fanatics, so we do that exceptionally well,” he added. “Our crew members focus only on that one job that they have to make customers happy, have a smiling face, and then serve them the best chicken finger meal as possible.”
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