The long-awaited Raising Cane’s location in Athens opened Tuesday, with over 150 fans wrapped around the building waiting to be among the first to try the fast food restaurant’s new location.
The restaurant held an opening ceremony, featuring giveaways and a live performance from Ohio University’s cheerleading team and the Marching 110.
“I’m so excited for Cane’s,” Ella Hanson, a freshman studying psychology, said. “I got here at 1 a.m., I told my roommates, ‘I want to go to this’ … and then I was here.”
Michael Smith, a student studying mechanical engineering, was the first person in line for the grand opening.
“I got here at 11 p.m. (the night before), and I just played guitar the whole time. I like Cane’s a lot.” Smith said. “College ain’t cheap, I like free food.”
As a reward for being first in line, he received a gift basket featuring Cane’s-themed merchandise.
The dozens in line before 8:30 a.m. were entered into a raffle, where 20 people would win the “Lucky 20” drawing for free Cane’s for a year. Additionally, the first 100 people to order a dine-in combo received a Raising Cane’s hat and a certificate for a free Box Combo.
Although these giveaways may come at a cost to the company, Sam Pope, Cane’s area leader of restaurants, said he ultimately believes they are beneficial for Raising Cane’s.
“One-hundred percent, it is absolutely worth it,” Pope said. “We want to come into this community, and we want there to be excitement around us, but we’re excited for Athens, too.”
Excitement was certainly present, with lines wrapped around the building before 9 a.m. for the opening ceremony.
“I’ve been here for four years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Nick Massaro, a senior studying sports management, said.
In order to put on such an event, Raising Cane’s had to prepare for the large crowd. The company contracted members of the Athens Police Department to patrol the restaurant during the opening celebration.
“They’ve contracted us to be here through the first week of opening,” Lt. Ross Holter of APD said. “I’m not actually working today, I’m just here for this.”
Despite the chaos that comes with such an event, the restaurant said it was ecstatic it was able to host it.
“It feels amazing, to be honest,” Pope said. “Raising Cane’s has such an amazing following, and our ‘Caniacs’ get insanely excited. We had people here at 11 p.m. last night waiting in line for the restaurant to open this morning.”
The restaurant itself is adorned in OU decorations and a mural of the Marching 110, but they also worked to tie in the opening celebration itself to the university.
Area leader of marketing Samir Nader reached out to the OU Athletics Department and invited the cheerleading team and Marching 110 to perform.
“I figured it’d be a great way to tie in the students to the community here,” Nader said.
Dozens of people spent hours in line with the shared excitement of the restaurant’s opening.
“We’re excited for Athens,” Pope said. “We’re part of the community, and the community makes us successful … I think this is great for Athens, but it’s great for Raising Cane’s, so I think everybody wins when we do something crazy like this.”
