The restaurant chain chooses lighting that highlights their fun, in-house dining experience and supports several unique, custom locations.
Founded in 1996, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers is one of the fastest growing chain restaurants boasting 750+ U.S. and international locations. Its secret for success is a combination of offering up a simple menu of delicious chicken fingers and assorted sides with savvy marketing and a legacy of community outreach.
To date, Raising Cane’s locations have supported more than 30,000 local organizations. “Being actively involved in our communities is a part of who we are and dates to the early days of Cane’s. We are serving more than craveable chicken finger meals; we are serving our communities,” said Todd Graves, Raising Cane’s Founder.
That supportive spirit finds its way to each of the Raising Cane’s locations, which are designed to be welcoming destinations for its customers. That’s why over the past 16 years, as the chain has accelerated its growth, they turned to E. Sam Jones to help create customized lighting solutions.
“We’ve enjoyed collaborating with the Raising Cane’s team,” said Kevin Price, Manager of National Accounts for E. Sam Jones. “From the onset, they wanted well-designed, well-lit spaces to enhance their customer experience with an eye also to energy savings and rebate opportunities.”
“The lighting design process started with architectural drawings and photometric measurements to determine the optimum layout and lumen performance,” continued Price. “Lighting fixture selection then became critical to deliver on the design and that’s when we reached out to Acuity Brands for fixtures to light the customer dining area.”
The lighting specified for these locations includes a selection of track, wall mount, undercabinet, and ceiling mounted LED from Acuity’s Juno® and Lithonia Lighting® brands. The blend of fixtures achieves the desired level of illumination while remaining unobtrusive. Utilizing the correct kelvin temperature for the dining room highlights the food appearance and helps add to the overall casual dining experience.
“Walk in to one of these Raising Cane’s locations and immediately you feel a sense of welcoming comfort that we believe the lighting helps contribute to while providing excellent illumination,” said Ty Wichman, Senior Project Manager for E. Sam Jones. "Plus, the lighting package delivers close to 40% energy savings over previous design model."
Customized Store Locations
This past year, Raising Cane’s customized two of its locations to celebrate a self-proclaimed “Caniac,” Grammy-nominated musician. In April, the chain’s Midvale, Utah location underwent a full-scale renovation including a redesign of its dining room, restrooms, building exterior, and landscaping – all custom-designed by the musician. And then in October, Raising Cane’s collaborated again with the musician to decorate a northwest Dallas location with memorabilia and an exterior painted in special colors.
“In both cases, we were pleased to find out that the lighting packages we co-designed held up under renovation and served to showcase the customized interior design and decorating required in both locations,” said Wichman. “We were called in to evaluate how well the lighting worked with the new additions and look and, aside from some minor adjustments, the lighting worked well without any compromises.”
Pairing community outreach and partnerships with well-designed, well-lit spaces, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers lights up more than just its dining rooms – it illuminates a commitment to quality, community, and a welcoming atmosphere.
