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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRAISING CANE'S - PDP - 6-04 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - MAPS/GRAPHICSRaising Cane's Chicken Fingers Conceptual Review - Fort Collins July 2003: Prototype 2B At Raising Cane's we're all about ONE LOVE - CHICKEN FINC We're committed to serving the highest quality chicken finger meals as fast as we can, in a friendly, clean store. And best of all, having FUN while doing it. Our vision is to have locations worldwide and be known as the quality brand for great tasting chicken finger meals, great crews, and a cool culture. Raising Cane's is based out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and operates 13 locations in southern Louisiana. Current plans for company growth involves 20 new locations in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi markets by the end of 2004. Raising Cane's is also looking forward to offering franchise opportunities by 3rd quarter 2003. The DREAM It sounded crazy, but one man had a dream to fry chicken. That man is Todd Graves, Founder of Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers. Graves was fresh out of college with a dream but no job, money or experience. This dream soon became his passion, and he was determined to make his chicken finger restaurant a reality. The STRUSSIESESINS To learn about business, Graves read business books, went to seminars, and talked with business people. He was told he needed to write a business plan. So along with a friend who was enrolled in a business class at LSU, he decided to use the classes to get it done. Ironically the project got a C. Armed with his business plan, a list of the banks in town and of private investors, he set out to raise the money he needed. He was shot down again and again with the some response..."A restaurant serving only chicken finger meals will never make it", and "You have no prior restaurant experience and no money to invest in the business yourself... it won't work" Now, more determined than ever to make his dream a reality, Todd decided to raise his own capital. To make a lot of money in a short time, he put on a hard hat and moved to Los Angeles to labor ninety hours a week as a boilermaker in a refine y.There he met a man named "Wild Bill" who told him go to Alaska to work as a commercial Sockeye Salmon fisherman. So Graves packed Ills his bogs, hopped on a plane and then hitchhiked to Naknek, Alaska. He slept in a tent on the frozen tundra for a month before he could r'U convince a boat captain to give him a job. Salmon fishing was long, hard, dangerous work. "During peak season, we would work tweny y hour days and boats would often ram each other to get better sets for Los Angeles refinery work their nets." Graves considered it a worthwhile risk. He returned home with his hard-earned money, but still needed investors. This time they listened! OUR 1//SION To have locations all over the world and to be known as the brand for quality chicken finger meals served by great crews with a coal culture. "I am just as determined to fulfill this dream as I was to open the first Raising Cane's location," says Graves. _Y After securing the capital and a small loan, Graves found the perfect location. It was a :5 very old, run down, but affordable building at the entrance to Louisiana State University. Y A deal was signed and renovations began. Armed with a jackhammer, Graves and his Bristol Bay salmon fishing crew worked day and night. It was a huge task, but a labor of love. They put in parking, a drive thru window, serving counters, and restored +s old wood paneling to become the first Raising Canes. Graves set up the first corporate office for Raising Cane's in the kitchen of his old, leaky roofed apartment t behind the restaurant. .r` It's OPEN RAISING CANE'S opened for business V�, a i .. on August 26, 1996... and it was an immediate success! " Customers crowded in for the great tasting chicken Renovating Raising Gana', first location finger meals. They were so busy they stayed open until 3:30 am, slept a few hours, and did it all again the ith Raising Cone's turned a small profit and Graves was thrilled! "it was one of ;e", Graves recalled. "I loved bringing together a great group of people who Oni PASS/ON Raising Cone's was founded on hard work, passion and the desire to do one thing better than anyone else. Great Chicken Fingers are Cone's "ONE LOVE." The chain has s z grown steadily and remained true to its roots. Todd Graves loves to tell the story about RAISING CANE'S... but just don't ask him "What's in the sauce ?" He'll never tell! 0 � CHICKEN FINGERS A bay and his dog" Todd even fished for sockeye salmon on his day off 56 • May 12, 2003 NATION'S RESTAURANT NEWS Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers Seeing big picture by implementing a vision By Paul King ew entrepreneurs are more qualified than Todd Graves to debunk the old claim of the New York State Lottery that "all you need is a dollar and a dream." Graves, the founder of 12-unit Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, tried for more than a year to make that fantasy a reality, going from bank to bank with Gale mon- ey of his own, asking investors to back his restaurant dream. In the end. however. what it took was hard work and an indefatigable spirit to make Raising Cane's come alive. But it is easy for observers to understand why the con- cept would have been a tough sell. Raising Cane's menu is incredibly simple: chicken fingers, french fries, coleslaw, Texas toast and soft drinks. Sandwich lovers can order three chicken fingers on a bun. And yet customers arc flocking to the stores, which are generating Sl.7 million in average unit volume. "The concept is beautiful," says Roddy Smith, vice president of operations for the Baton Rouge. La. -based chain. "!Ys a simple, specialized menu, and people love it." The Box combo — five fingers with accompaniments and a 22-ounce drink for $5.52 — is the biggest seller, ac- counting for more than half of an average store's transac- tions There are three other individual combos, and cus- tomers who love to upsize their meals have their own combo, called The Caniac seven chicken fingers, two containers of Cane's secret scum, coleslaw, extra fries, Texas toast and a 32-ounce beverage. In addition, the store sells "tailgater packs" of 25, 50, 75 and 100 fingers. "The concept works bemuse Todd wills it to work," says Craig Sdvie, Graves' original partner and now the chain's technoloep cum. "There arc people out there who Right: Todd Graves describes himself as Raising Cane's "founder, chairman, CEO, president, fry cook and cashier." have a gift for seeing the big picture, and there are there who know how to get their hands dirty and implement a vision. Todd can do bah." Silvie, a long-time friend of Graves, says he left Raising Cane's in 1998 to work in CaG- fomia. A came back because I realized how much Todd's skills were starting to develop, and I wanted to he a pan of that." Graves admits that to say he is obsessed with Raising Cane's would not be far off the mark. He refers to chicken fingers as the concept's "one love," and even launched an advertising campaign last year based on that philosophy. He lists himself on his business cards as "founder, chair- man, CEO, president, fry cook and cashier." His goal is "to have restaurants all over the world," and he maintains that that vision hasn't diminished even though after six years Raising Cane's hasn't left the com- fortable environs of Louisiana Graves' desire to open his own restaurant was born at the University of Georgia, where he was studying telecommunications. He had worked in several restau- rants to help pay for his education and says he always has been attracted to the restaurant industry because of its fast pact and the fact that it is a "people" business. "In college 1 had seen several different Southeastern quick -serve concepts that served chicken fingers, and also saw the popularity of chicken fingers at restaurants Eke Chili's and Houston's,- he explains. "1 saw a niche for someone who could do chicken fingers and sauce better than anyone else. served with speed and convenience." Gmves shared his vision with his friends, who were, he admits, less than supportive. "People thought 1 was crazy." he says "They told the it would never work down here. Thaljust made me want to do it that much more." One contact did offer a piece of advice: Before you talk to anyone seriously about the idea, you have to write a business plan. So he talked with consultants from the Service Core of Retired Executives, or SCORE, and gathered the information he needed to write a plan. Then he went out and bought a "real cheap" suit and a briefcase and began to knock on the doors of banks and private investors Whether it was because of his age, 22, the fact that he'd never taken so much as a single busmen course in college or the fact that he had no money of his own, Graves got the same response from the moneylen- ders as he'd gotten from his friends But by now, Graves' dream had become an obsession. (Continued on page 58) Owner: Todd Graves HeadquaK: Baton Rouge, La. No. of units:12 Annual sales per un' $1.7 million State where loc `, Louisiana Type of concep quick service Average check:$7.50 58 • May 12, 2003 NATION'S RESTAURANT NEWS Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers (Continued from page 56) Since he was not to be dissuaded, he knew that he'd have to raise the money himself. So in the spring of 1995. he headed out to L.os Angeles and took a job as a boiler- maker for a refinery. -1'd heard that it was hard work, but that you could make a lot of money real quick; he recalls. He didn't know what hard work really was, though, until he met Wad Bill Tolar. "Wad Bill was a big man," Graves says.' -Six foot seven, 300 pounds. He said to me.1 know a place where you can cam money. But it's dangerous work: " The job was netting sockeye salmon in Bristol Bay on the southwestern shore of Alaska. In retrospect, Graves acknowledges that'dmgcmus' may have been an under- statement "Well, for one reason, you're working 20-hour days and you're working the whole time." he explains "You work like that fourhours sleep a night and accidents can happen. You have boats going out, nets swinging around. fishermen jockeying for position." Graves claims he saw or heard of one man breaking his neck and another breaking his back while fishing for sockeye. "It was so fascinating;' he says. He came back with plenty of stories for his future grandkids but not with enough to cover the entire cost of his fist restaurant. It was, however, enough to convince the Small B sirim Administration to finance construction of the first unit, which was to be located at the North Gate of Louisiana State University. Of course, Graves and several friends did most of the work themselves. The restaurant opened Aug. 26. 1996. It was named after Gravcs'vcllow Labrador retriever, who became the store's mascot "1 got the dog when I was a kid, and I wanted to name him Raising Cam,- he explains "My youngersister want- ed to name him Sugar Cane, bemuse she thought he was sweet In the end, she said 1 could name him as long as 1 spelled his name C-A-N-E., so I did." At the first Raising Canes opening. Graves — who calls himself "a little high-strung" — was right there with the rest of the crew, frying chicken fingers, greeting cus- tomers and working the cash register. He recalls that the store was so busy that they staved open until 330 a.m. "We worked ourselves to death.- he says "It was gnat." Eight months later, he was back meeting with the SBA about backing a second store, which opened in the spring of 199K Six mom stores were born in the next two years, but Graves says the expansion began to fire out his management team. "Between stops three and eight, we realized we need- ed to systemize the operations" he explains. "With the first two stores it was more employees and management working side by side. We needed a quicker way to train people and we needed a policies -and -procedures manuaL The challenge was we didn't want to be systemized." When you're a man who lists himself as both help and management. there is only one way to establish an operat- ing system: involve everyone. "We met with all the managers and crew and told them what we needed and why." Graves says "They got behind it. They helped create the policies and procedures manu- als, which we call 'How and Why' manuals. - The team also came up with Cane's Love, a respect - and -rewards program that includes flexible scheduling. in-store and inter -store competitions, and perks such as concert tickets or movie rickets to recognize employees who have worked hard to make a guest's experience a memorable one. Buying into Cane's culture is one of Graves' mn- negotiables Through its interview process, company Right Raising Cane's operators plan to open units on or near college campuses and say international growth is a long-term goal for the restaurant. Below: The 12-unit chain is named after Graves' yellow Labrador retriever, Raising Cane, who also is the store's mascot. I i officials seek future employees who genuinely love people and understand how to treat them. "We teach as our managers to have eyes for the customer," says Roddy Smith. "The store is their home, and the customers am their visitors and should be treated that way." Silvie adds: "The people who work for us really want to work for us. They take pride in the business. We don't want a'fakc-fun' feel to the store. Working at Raising Canes should be fun" It is that culture that will help sustain the chain's growth, according to Kathleen Wood, president of Elbot Solutions Inc., a consulting firm based in Tarrytown, N.Y. "The culture you create can be the strongest pan of your entire operation;" says Wood, who was brought in to help facilitate the systemization of Canes. "People can steal your menu ideas or elements of your concept, but your culture is unique to you I think Cane's has created a culture customers will respond well to." Nearly seven years after the first store opened. Raising Cane's still has its doubters. One foodscrvice professional, who works near one of the units and asked not to be iden- tified, wonders how strong the concept's legs are. "When I look at the concept, it's like trying to imag- ine McDonald's selling only Big Macs." he explains. "They don't have salads, they don't have sandwiches, they don't have anything else. And because they don't fry ahead, there is a little bit of a wait for your food. I rig rig•-nRE y#m N�NArA ,AR _4 guess it's almost -quick service." As skeptical as he's, though, he also admits that he eats there -about twice a week:' "People love the concept, and it's a good product" he adds, comparing it favorably to Chick-fil-A. Graves acknowledges that Raising Cane's is fairly labor-intensive because the concept prides itself on fresh- ness. The chicken is marinated for 24 hours, then battered and seasoned by hand. Coleslaw is made fresh daily. Graves says he has no intention of selling out to conve- nience in any area of production. But Graves doesn't won about skeptic any more; he's too busy planning Cam's expansion. Two years ago, he hired Hospitality Services Inc., a Baltimore -based restau- rant design firm, to come up with a 3500-square-foot foot- print that would serve as the prototype for expansion pro- jects. From the 80-seat store that debuted in Lafayette. La- Cane's plans to open 20 restaurants this year. A franchise package also soon will be available, he adds. "We're going to he extremely selective with our franchise partners. We will be looking for multiunit franchisees waling to sign big territory agreements Our rate of growth will depend on our ability to attract the right kind of franchise partners." And now that he has proved to critics that he wasn't crazy, Graves is not about to become the little engine who quit. "People conic up to me and ask me,' W hat's your exit strategy?' " Graves says "1 tell them that I don't have one. I'm not in it to make some money and get out This isn't my job. It's my passion." Graves plans to establish a "pillar- of stores on or near college campuses based on the success of his original LSU location. "We need to he disciplined in our expansion," he notes "I think people mess up when they get recognized for thew success and then try to grow too fast" So when will customers outside the U.S. get to experi- ence Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers? Graves is cagey on that point saying simply, "International growth is a long- term goal." hitp://www.nrn.com Prototypical Signage & Interior .AiC-nannurn.� �1 Interior