The Adorable Inspiration Behind The Name Raising Cane's

In the United States, fried chicken is big business. In terms of chains dishing up crispy chicken, you have contenders like KFC, Jollibee, Wingstop, Bojangles, and Zaxby's, to say nothing of Popeyes, which claims the boast of being Anthony Bourdain's favorite fast food fried chicken chain. One of the newer additions to the ranks is Raising Cane's, which opened its first location in Louisiana in 1996. With a menu that consists of nothing but chicken fingers and the sides and drinks that complement them, along with its famous Cane's Sauce, Raising Cane's has swelled in the last 19 years to almost 900 locations, with 118 of those opening in 2024 alone!

You may not know, however, that there is a sweet story behind the company's name. Founder Todd Graves named the restaurant after his yellow lab, who was named Raising Cane. Cane was frequently by Graves's side at the construction site of the first outlet. Graves almost dubbed the eatery "Sockeye's" after the Alaskan seafood he liked to fish for, but Raising Cane's came to be named for a winsome pup, who is often depicted in murals wearing sunglasses at local stores. Of course, folks come to Raising Cane's for the delicious chicken (there are a lot of mistakes people make cooking fried chicken, but Cane's avoids them), but we can't help but be lovestruck by the story of a guy who adored his dog, just like so many of us.

The OG Raising Cane was named after a popular Southern turn of phrase, "raising Cain" (note the spelling difference), which is a type of rabble-rousing or troublemaking inspired by the biblical Cain who murdered his brother, Abel. For example, you might say, "That silly dog was raising Cain in the kitchen because she heard someone jingle her leash." Alas, the original Cane who gave the chicken chain its name is no longer with us. When Cane died in 1998, he was succeeded by Cane II, a trained therapy dog who lived a long 17 years until 2016. In turn, Cane II was followed by Cane III, the current Raising Cane's mascot, who has her own Instagram with over 100,000 followers and has been known to share her opinions on the Cane's menu in YouTube videos. You can see her frequently sporting a red Raising Cane's-branded bandanna, her tongue lolling from her mouth in a friendly manner.

Today, Raising Cane's is serving up marinated fried chicken fingers cooked in a blend of soy and canola oil (competitor Popeyes fries its chicken in beef tallow). Every piece is hand-dredged, dipped, and fried by an employee, all in the name of you getting the freshest, tastiest chicken possible. If you get some takeout from Raising Cane's and your vet approves, maybe you can set a small piece aside for the favorite dog(s) in your life in honor of the original Raising Cane, who may just be the cutest namesake around.