Introduction

This article is about Raising Cane’s versus Chick-fil-A. The two competing chicken companies are always being compared, and I want to find out which restaurant EPHS prefers. In this article, I explore the background of Chick-fil-A and Raising Cane’s, specifically describing how each restaurant became so successful.

The Start of Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A was created by S. Truett Cathy and his brother Ben Cathy. In 1946, Truett started his business, which led the two brothers to open up their own diner in Atlanta. They named the diner the “Dwarf Grill”, though the name later changed into “Dwarf House”. As Ben and Cathy’s business began succeeding, Cathy decided to open his own restaurant. In 1967, Cathy founded and opened the first Chick-fil-A in the Atlanta Greenbriar Shopping Center.

Who was S. Truett Cathy? 

S. Truett Cathy was the creator of Chick-fil-A. He married a woman named Jeannette McNeil Cathy. Together, they had 3 children, two sons and one daughter. Cathy has 12 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren. Cathy authored 6 books, was a committed philanthropist, did charity work, and received many awards. He passed on September 8, 2014, and is remembered by the love he had for his customers.

Chick-fil-A’s Success

Chick-fil-A is the largest quick service chicken restaurant. There are around 3,059 stores in 48 states. The store is still getting passed down through Cathy’s generation; they try to keep the tradition of leadership. His son Dan became the CEO in 2013, and now his nephew is currently the CEO. 

The Start of Raising Cane’s 

Raising Cane’s was created by a college student named Todd Graves. Todd was writing a business plan for Cane’s while going to Louisiana State University. Todd ended up telling his professor and other people about his idea thinking people would support him. However, his professor gave him a low grade on it and told him “a chicken finger restaurant would never work”. Todd kept trying to tell people about his idea even though he was still getting turned down. He was going to keep trying, and just wanted to get his idea to any banker that would see him. Todd ended up moving away to California to get another job working with an oil company. Eventually, he then moved away to Alaska to work as a commercial salmon fisherman. While moving back, Todd decided to take out a loan to reconstruct an old building which became the first Raising Cane’s.

Who is Todd graves? 

Todd Graves was a college student going to Louisiana State University. He is now the owner of Raising Cane’s. Todd moved to L.A to work as a boilermaker working 90 hours a week to make money and save up. After living in L.A., he moved to Alaska as a fisherman and he was working in the worst conditions to try and make money. Todd then moved back home and decided to take out a loan to start building his restaurant, even when people told him it wasn’t going work. He still wanted to give it a try. Todd and his friends decided to work on the building together. While Todd was renovating, they found a mural of an old brick wall and Todd thought about how he can use that for his restaurant. After Todd started the restaurant, it quickly gained popularity. There were so many people there that they had to stay open past 3 AM, but Todd said he loved it and had fun building up his restaurant.

Is Raising Cane’s still successful? 

Yes, Raising Cane’s is still successful. Cane’s has about 749 stores in the United States. Raising Cane’s system sales had grown 31% last year and it just kept doubling over the past 5 years. Canes also had won 28 in the top 100 CEO in us according to Glassdoor. 

For my article, I did a poll on which of the two restaurants is better according to EPHS. As the results poured in, I found out that 53.6% of EPHS students believe that Chick-fil-A is better than Raising Cane’s. Do you agree?

Work Cited:

(Chick-fil-A Vs Canes, 04, 2024)

https://www.chick-fil-a.com/about/historyChick-fil-A. (n.d.). Dwarf House – Chick-fil-A Company History. Chick-fil-A. Retrieved April 16, 2024, from https://www.chick-fil-a.com/about/history

Raising Canes. (n.d.). Chicken Fingers | Cane’s Sauce RSS. Raising Cane’s | Chicken Fingers | Cane’s Sauce RSS. Retrieved April 16, 2024, from https://aws-prod.raisingcanes.com/our-story

Wikipedia. Retrieved April 22, 2024, from https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1xOaYXghueeBYdiR0dGqUiEqEyH1W6JNWeIEGqFo3Eqg/edit#responses