This article is brought to you by Freedom Financial.
The parking lot of the new Raising Cane’s looked more like the queue for an amusement park ride than a chicken fingers restaurant on Thursday morning. There was music, dancing, cheerleading, and eventually, chicken.
Students from Kokomo High School and Indiana University Kokomo showed en masse for the event, and not by accident, as the athletic departments from both schools received $500 donations from the restaurant during the grand opening ceremonies. Cheering for chicken and cash, the KHS cheer squad and Koko performed to keep the crowd warmed on an otherwise chilly January morning.
“I could not be more proud and more glad to be here to be able to serve you,” said Mark Mathias, Raising Cane’s area leader of restaurants for Indiana. “This is our seventh restaurant here in Indiana, and we’re so excited to open this up today.
“All the people out here who got here so early in the morning. I think our first customer was here at 5:30 this morning. You braved the cold for this. That's the way to go!”
Indeed, people began to orbit the restaurant, drawn almost by gravity to partake in some chicken. The patio at the entrance to the store was standing room only, and people continued to arrive, filling the parking lots along Markland Avenue long before the first vehicle entered the drive-thru.
Mathias traced the history of the franchise for the crowd. Founder Todd Graves put together the business plan for Raising Cane’s in a class in college. He got the worst grade in the class.
“They said, ‘you can't do it,’” said Mathias. “’You can't open a chicken finger restaurant.’ Well, he didn't take that in stride. He set out on a journey to raise the money to open it up. He went out to L.A. and worked as a boilermaker to earn money, and because of that, you'll see lots of great things in here that pay homage to it.
“One of the things you'll see is a hard hat, which we always present to a restaurant leader. And after all our crew members have worked for a year, we give them a hard hat.”
Mathias presented a hard hat to the Kokomo store’s leader, Cody Augustine, who welcomed the crowd and explained why Raising Cane’s was his choice.
“Todd had a show called ‘Restaurant Recovery,’ and he toured around the country, helping struggling restaurants remain open during COVID and learn ways to stay in business. I can remember watching these episodes with my wife, and by the end of the episode we'd both be in tears because of the impact that he had. It was at that point I realized this is a company that I want to work for.”
Continuing Graves’ story, his time as a boilermaker wasn’t enough, Mathias said. He still didn’t have the funds for his first store. So, he traveled to Alaska to become a sockeye salmon fisherman. It was there that he earned enough money to build the first Raising Cane’s.
“He had everything together, and they were starting to build,” said Mathias. “One of the crew members came to him and said, ‘I think we've got a problem. There's crickets outside.’ There were crickets everywhere. So many crickets.”
Graves wasn’t worried. He learned that in Chinese culture, a cricket is an omen of good luck. That odd collection of crickets became a symbol for the company. Today, each new restaurant leader receives a plastic cricket for luck, and Augustine was no exception. He held the oversized insect above him for all to see. The new store manager expressed his enthusiasm for the store and the crew, one of whom was honored before the opening with a spirit award.
“We were able to hire such an energetic and excited crew,” said Augustine. “They are so eager to start serving you all here today. Looking forward to the future, I'm excited to get involved with the community and support the community I love. Kokomo has always been my hometown.”
After brief words of welcome from Mayor Tyler Moore, the Raising Cane’s crew presented the checks to the schools and then cut the ribbon from the Greater Kokomo Chamber of Commerce to open the store.
The restaurant got the traditional welcome from the citizens of Kokomo, too. From open to close, Raising Cane’s was so busy that the line of cars in the drive-thru extended the length of Markland Avenue in front of the Markland Mall.
One love, indeed.
(Editor’s note: If you’re reading this while sitting in line at Raising Cane’s, pick me up an order. I don’t have two hours to sit in line today.)