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Bret Thorn
Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, an 80-unit fast-casual chain based in Baton Rouge, La., sells fried chicken tenders. You can have fries, cole slaw, housemade Cane’s sauce, Texas toast and a drink with them. You can have them on a Kaiser roll. You can buy them individually or in large Tailgate boxes.
And that’s about it.
So far in 2009, same-store sales are up by 7.7 percent, says Clay Dover, the company’s new “president, chief marketing officer, fry cook and cashier.”
A reason for that success, says Dover, who started his job last July after stepping down as chief executive of Metromedia Restaurant Group, is that the company focuses on what it does best and makes sure it does it really well.
How does Raising Cane’s tightly focused menu affect your job?
It really changes the whole business model and the focus. We do not have to be concerned with LTOs or an exorbitant amount of SKUs. Some places have 3,000 SKUs. We have a little more than 100 when you add plateware and other things. We have a very limited number of products to track, and it really allows us to hone in on one thing and do it the best.
Instead of learning new prep items or managing inventory, we focus on things like cleanliness of restaurants, the attitude of employees and giving back to the community.
BONUS POINT
“Brands that stay true to their ‘brand DNA,’ like Raising Cane’s, understand both the functional benefits of their brand and the emotional benefits. These brands will be the ones that win the competitive battle well after the economy turns around.”—Jon Jameson, founding partner, Bellwether Food Group, Boston
Are there difficulties in having a limited menu?
If you don’t eat fried chicken, you’re not going to come to us. And if you go to a competitor, you can try different things on different nights. And I think you’re always going to have potential guests out there who think, “Gee, you really should have a barbecue sauce or a light gravy.” We try to give the guest the perfect experience, and when you don’t have to worry about all the other things that are going on the menu—we don’t have to worry about dessert or serving different products during different seasons—we can focus on allowing our crew members to make sure we’re meticulous.
What kind of training do employees get?
If you’re a team member, we do station training for six weeks. We crack the eggs, we stir up the batter every morning and again after the lunch rush. We make the cole slaw each morning. We have a Cane’s sauce that we make in the restaurant.
We explain to the team members why we do those things. We feel that it’s important that they understand our commitment to quality and to our guests, and they will translate that to the guest and the experience. When the guests ask why it tastes so good, our team members can tell them that they cracked the eggs themselves.— [email protected]
