Raising Cane's Newest Unit to Promote Active Lifestyles
Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers will promote physical activity and safety when it opens its sixth restaurant in Hilliard, Ohio, on October 19, 2009.
-- Chain Leader, 10/12/2009 8:43:00 AM
PRESS RELEASE: COLUMBUS, OH -- Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers will promote physical activity and safety when it opens its sixth restaurant in Hilliard on October 19, 2009.
In partnership with the Columbus Public Health's Healthy Places Program, Raising Cane's Hilliard location is installing five-foot sidewalks in front of its 2,700 square-foot building, which have shown to be more walkable for pedestrians, as well as a designated crosswalk from the public sidewalk to the front door, and bike racks.
According to Christine Green, Healthy Places Coordinator, the purpose of the Healthy Places Program is to create an environment in which people can walk and bike more within the City of Columbus. By creating better community design to increase physical activity, the city and its corporate partners, like Raising Cane's, can help decrease obesity and chronic disease.
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To promote safety for its guests and crew members, Raising Cane's, located at 2550 Hilliard-Rome Road, also has installed detectable warning pads where walkways meet vehicular traffic to protect pedestrians. Raising Cane's has worked closely with Dublin-based M+A Architects to design and incorporate these key health and safety-oriented elements into its restaurant design.
"Working with the Cities of Columbus and Hilliard to open our Hilliard restaurant has been an incredible journey," said Tim McCarthy, Raising Cane's Ohio Limited Partner: Business Development. "Not only are we able to open a restaurant in a family-oriented community like Hilliard, but we can help promote a more active lifestyle for everyone along the way."
Raising Cane's Ohio (RCO) Limited, the Columbus-based Raising Cane's franchisee, owns and operates five additional locations throughout the Columbus area.
The Columbus Public Health's Healthy Places Program is unique throughout the entire United States. Green reviews City of Columbus planning and rezoning projects to seek new ways to incorporate key elements for a healthier, safer, more environmentally-friendly lifestyle. Based on the recommendations made for Raising Cane's, M+A Architects created design elements for each of the City's lifestyle goals and presented them to Raising Cane's.
Raising Cane's is one of the only companies in the Columbus area to incorporate and fund all of the recommendations made by Columbus Public Health into its building design.
"Approximately 63% of companies incorporate some of the active living features, but it is rare that a company will incorporate all of the features," Green said. "Our goal in the healthy places program is to make every place accessible to walking and biking, and Raising Cane's is helping us do that."
Greene also said that only 49.3% of Franklin county residents meet the nation's physical activity requirement, which means that about half of our population does not get enough physical activity. The U.S. Surgeon General recommends exercising 30 minutes or more per day most days of the week.
Raising Cane's Hilliard restaurant is a 2,700 square-foot, free-standing building with enough room for 15 cars in the drive-thru lane. It will seat approximately 55 guests and employ 50 crew members.
Raising Cane's is best known for its fresh, never frozen chicken fingers that are marinated 24-to-36 hours and made to order. Raising Cane's menu is simple and unique - chicken fingers accompanied by fries, coleslaw, Texas toast, and, of course, Cane's Secret Sauce.
Founder Todd Graves opened the first Raising Cane's restaurant on August 26, 1996 in Baton Rouge, La. It was such a hit that customers crowded in for the tasty chicken fingers until 3:30 a.m.! To this day, patrons continue to enjoy the Raising Cane's menu, which includes a variety of chicken finger combination meals as well as Tailgate Boxes of 25 to 100 chicken fingers for that special Buckeye game-day meal.
Raising Cane's currently has 80 restaurants in 13 states with several new restaurants under construction. The Company has one love - chicken fingers - and focuses its menu on fresh, made-to-order chicken fingers, grilled Texas Toast brushed with garlic butter, fresh cole slaw, crinkle-cut French fries, and of course, Cane's Secret Sauce.
Raising Cane's has been recognized for its innovative business model and commitment to quality with accolades such as being named to Restaurant Hospitality's "Top 10 Growth Chains for 2008;" ranking second on Restaurant Business "Future's Top 50 List;" and being listed among the "Top 100 Movers and Shakers" in Fast Casual magazine.
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