Chicken chain Raising Cane's adds 4th location to planned Long Island debut

Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers has added a fourth location to its plan to enter the Long Island market in 2025.

The Louisiana-based chain plans to open a restaurant in Carle Place, spokeswoman Hannah Henderson said last week. In May, Newsday reported that the fast-casual chain was planning to open eateries in Commack, East Meadow and Hauppauge in 2025.

A fast-growing chain with a streamlined menu — chicken fingers and chicken finger sandwiches, plus a few sides — Raising Cane's won’t disclose the specific addresses where the Long Island restaurants would be located, but building-related plans submitted to town governments provide some additional details.

For the East Meadow restaurant, an application submitted to the Town of Hempstead Building Department Nov. 15 proposes the construction of a 4,779-square-foot building for Raising Cane’s and a subdivision of property at 2545-2555 Hempstead Tpke.,  town spokesman B. Gregory Blower II said Wednesday. The application is pending zoning review, he said.

The 5.32-acre site currently holds a 50,000-square-foot, four-story office building, UA Office Plaza. 

The property owner, UNS Management Associates Ltd. in Huntington, has proposed subdividing the site into three separate parcels, including 0.95 acres for the proposed Raising Cane's, Blower said.

Dave Shah, president of UNS Management Associates, said, “We are splitting the lot and there will be Raising Cane’s in the front and the office in the back."

Newsday reported in May that the Raising Cane's proposed for Hauppauge would be built on a vacant site in the 500 block of State Route 111 that once held a Burger King, Blockbuster Video and two small office buildings.

The property owner, J. Nazzaro Partnership L.P. in Bay Shore, has proposed building a 3,062-square-foot Raising Cane’s and 2,260-square-foot Taco Bell with drive-thru  lanes. Also, two unnamed restaurants planned for the site would share a 4,000-square-foot building.

In September, the Smithtown Town Board voted to approve the property owner’s application to rezone half the 4.18-acre parcel in Hauppauge from office business to neighborhood business. Other approvals, including the site plan, are still needed, said Peter Hans, director in Smithtown’s planning department.

J. Nazzaro Partnership did not respond to a request for comment.

In Commack, the planned Raising Cane’s would be near the cross streets of Commack Road and Vanderbilt Parkway, the restaurant chain said.

No building plans have been submitted to the Town of Smithtown for the Commack restaurant, Hans said.

'A whole mix of reasons'

Founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1996, Raising Cane’s has more than 750 restaurants in the  United States, the Middle East and Guam.

One of the fastest-growing chains in the nation, Raising Cane’s opened 500 U.S. restaurants between 2012 and 2022 and is the fourth-largest chicken chain, based on sales,  according to Technomic, a restaurant and retail industry research firm in Chicago.

The chain opened 100 restaurants this year and plans to open 100 more in 2024.

“There’s a whole mix of reasons why Raising Cane’s has seen so much growth: their locations are mostly company-operated, so they have a tight operational control; [a] streamlined menu with highly craveable core items and sauces; significant drive-thru business; strong marketing ... etc.,” said Kevin Schimpf, director of industry research and insights at Technomic.

Raising Cane's big push for expansion in the Northeast is heavily driven by growth in the New York area, Henderson said.

The company opened its first restaurant in New York state in midtown Manhattan — its global flagship in Times Square — in June, followed by a location  on lower Manhattan’s Astor Place in September and a Brooklyn eatery in October.

Four more New York City restaurants will open in or near the first half of 2024: in Fulton Street Mall in Brooklyn on Jan. 30; in Harlem at the end of February; and in Flushing, Queens, and Penn Station in midtown Manhattan around June or July, Henderson said.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.