As the Bay Area eagerly awaits the debut of Raising Cane’s later this summer, a newly opened restaurant in Elk Grove had long lines of frenzied fans queuing up for a box of crispy chicken fingers.
The new location at the Marketplace 99 on West Stockton Boulevard opened at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning after offering a special preview on Monday. It’s among a flurry of new outposts to appear in Northern California after the Louisiana-based fast food chain introduced its famous fried chicken in Manteca last summer, per the Sacramento Bee.
“Clearly, the community had some anticipation and we’re flattered,” Chris Zygler, a regional vice president for Raising Cane’s, told the outlet.
When the fast food favorite opened just outside of the UC Davis campus on 207 E Street last November, a throng of people gathered in a queue that snaked around the block.
One reason for the heavy foot traffic at that location may have been due to its lack of a drive-through, though another could have been that the restaurant held a promotional drawing for its grand opening offering 20 customers free Cane’s for a year if they lined up between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. The restaurant’s combos typically include french fries, coleslaw, fluffy slices of toast studded with sesame seeds and a dipping cup of its famous special sauce.
“As you can see, the hype is real,” Jana Sartini, a representative for Raising Cane’s, told the Sacramento Bee during the opening of the Davis outpost.
It’s likely similar crowds will pack the Raising Cane’s that’s expected to open on the first floor of an off-campus student housing complex on 2580 Bancroft Way in Berkeley this summer, followed by another location near the Oakland Coliseum at 8430 Edgewater Drive and a Hayward outpost at 26231 Mission Boulevard, according to the restaurant. Other newly opened locations include Citrus Heights, Roseville and Stockton.