Around 1,500 people found free chicken, lively music and a grand welcome on Nov. 8 for Raising Cane’s soft opening in Columbia.
The new establishment is located at 203 S. Providence Road. next to EatWell, and is the first Cane’s location in Columbia.
Cane’s was open from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., providing 30 minute time-slots with dine-in and drive-thru options for ‘Very Important Caniacs’. VIC customers included community partners, local school affiliates, students and more.
Customers came from across the area to attend the opening. Keegan Thompson, invited as an ambassador for the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, came with two of his friends. The night was Thompson’s first time trying Cane’s chicken and he said he was a fan of the food and the environment.
“I really like the music so far,” Thompson said. “The service was great and really fast.”
Hickman High School freshman Sylvia Trevor came to the soft opening both for the food and a potential job. She said it was her first time eating at Cane’s, but the food and atmosphere was inviting.
“The food and the service [draw people in],” Trevor said. “People will just always want to come to Cane’s.”
Rochelle Kately, the area leader of recruiting for St. Louis and Columbia, conducted open interviews during both the soft opening on Nov. 8, and the grand opening on Nov. 9. Kately said their goal was to hire at least 150 crew members and go up from there. The business is currently going through 30-40 applicants every few days in order to continue growing the location.
“It’s an amazing company from the standpoint that we’re ‘always hiring’ not ‘now hiring,’ and if you [have] great talent and bring the energy, we’re going to hire you and we’ll make a spot for you,” Kately said.
The Columbia Cane’s establishment has been developing for over a year, so Kately said she was excited for the final opening.
“Everyone has been super excited for Columbia,” Kately said. “We’ve been waiting around for a really long time to get here, so it’s going very smoothly.”
The area leader of restaurants, Brandon Quinn, manages all Cane’s locations in St. Louis, southern Illinois and now Columbia. Quinn said he was impressed by the work of the crew members, especially those in front of customers for the first time.
“We have a saying: We don’t sacrifice quality for speed,” Quinn said. “That’s what our training is, that’s what our business is. So we’re really preaching that onto our new crew members.”
Quinn said the soft opening was a way to get the team ready for the location’s grand opening.
“Giving away food is not only great for the community to come try it, but it’s an investment for our team to train,” Quinn said. “With about 1,500 customers getting free food, it’s about a $15,000 investment to make sure our team is ready.”
Quinn said past the food, Cane’s puts people first, including those in the surrounding community, their crew members and their customers. He is optimistic that the culture of Cane’s will draw in many customers and employees in the future.
“We’re a people business that happens to sell chicken,” Quinn said. “That’s at the front of everything we do. And when you know that deep down, you just feel great about it.”
Edited by Namratha Prasad | nprasad@themaneater.com
