Popular Chicken Restaurant Raising Cane's To Open MA Store

SAUGUS, MA — A popular chain that focuses almost exclusively on chicken tenders is opening a Saugus location, MassLive reported. Raising Cane's claims it offers up "the most craveable chicken finger meals" around and has plans to expand its footprint in Massachusetts.

The Saugus store, which will open in late 2024, will be the fifth in the state. Currently, Cane's restaurant has two locations in Boston along with one each in Methuen and Marlborough.

The Marlborough location opened in the spring after years in the works and a brief legal battle with neighboring restaurant McDonald's. The new Cane's location proved so popular that Marlborough police were brought in to direct traffic near the restaurant after it first opened, a scene that seems likely to repeat itself in Saugus.

The exact location and opening date of the Saugus store hasn't been determined, according to MassLive.

Raising Cane's was founded in 1996 in Baton Rouge, LA, and has since expanded to more than 500 locations in the U.S. and a few overseas.

The chicken tender specialty restaurant isn't a common site in the region. Outside of Massachusetts, you'll have to go all the way to New York City to find another Raising Cane's.

Unlike competitor restaurants like Popeyes, Chick-fil-A, and KFC, Raising Cane's has a more limited menu that's heavy on chicken tenders, or as Cane's calls them, "chicken fingers." But, according to fans, it's the quality of those tenders/fingers that has sparked the restaurant chain's speedy growth.

Cane's opened a flagship store in Times Square earlier this year and plans to open a total of more than 100 locations in 2023. The consistent expansion means it could be a top 10 fast-food chain in a few years, according to Eat This, Not That.