How Raising Cane’s Turns First-Time Guests Into Caniacs In Topeka, KS | Kansas Leadership Team

Intentional Cooking And One Love

We have a very focused menu, right? But we are so intentional on every single step.

One love, uh, one thing, we do it really well. One love, our crew, one love the culture.

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Meet The Cane’s Kansas Leaders

Whether you're buying or renting, Topeka and Shawnee County are ready to welcome you. Apply now at choosetopeka.com. All right, welcome to Topeka Insider. Today we've got Erasing Cains Leadership Team. Let's go on location with us. We've got to be and Kim, uh, the business unit team for Kansas, overseeing a lot of what goes on. Welcome to the studio.

Thank you. Thank you for having us. Yeah, thank you guys so much. We're excited to be here.

Come on, that's awesome. Well, maybe just to start, could you tell us a little bit like what you guys do, what your role with the company is.

Do you guys make the chicken? Absolutely.

Absolutely. I was doing it yesterday in the TPA location, actually.

And then me. Marketing hat, operations hat. They don't want me in the kitchen.

That would actually be kind of amazing if every employee was required to know how to make the chicken. What?

Yeah, you'll see on every one of the management team uniforms, they all say fry cook and cashier. What? Um, it's all of our titles. I'm area leader of marketing, fry cook and cashier.

That is awesome.

Yeah, that is like the first two to four weeks of any level of leadership's training is you were in the restaurants, you were next to those 16-year-old high school kids.

That's awesome. So, okay, you weren't joking. Yeah. And you were making chicken yesterday.

I was not joking. I was with my boss making chicken. We were very busy in Topeka yesterday. Oh, that's awesome.

Okay, come on, let's go.

Absolutely. But no, like she said, we all start off in t-shirts. We have to earn our collars um to get into the management stages. Um it doesn't matter. And even during COVID, when um we had to shut down the uh corporate office, everybody from the corporate office was in our restaurants helping and you know, figuring it out. And so yeah, we everybody, everybody can make chicken. Yeah. Take orders. That's amazing.

Wow. So uh how long have you guys each been with uh raising canes?

Almost four years for me. Okay. Yeah, about six and a half for me. That's amazing. So all those pandemic days, yeah. I was in the I was in the restaurants. Uh-huh. That's crazy.

What was that like?

Insane. I mean, the the amount of appreciation for restaurant operations in general, but I mean, even these crew members, like they're coming in and it's it's hard work. It really is. Like, and it's hot, especially wearing masks in the restaurant. Like that was just a whole different experience for me, not having really much of the restaurant background.

Why Caniacs Trust The Consistency

Wild. So Raising Canes, uh, okay, so we'll just we'll lay our cards on the table here for a second. Okay, so uh Justin is a Raising Keynes fanatic ultra fan. That's a good word. Like the day the sh the store here opened, he was there multiple times with his family of friends. He's there multiple times a week. No shame either. I am like uh undecided. All right. So I actually had it for the first time last week. It was amazing. I it was it was great. We all went together and they're like, hey man, you gotta like I was like, you need help ordering, John. Yeah, they were. I was like, hey, tell me what to order. And it was great. It was like the environment was super fun. But there there I've noticed there seems to be there's a loyal following of the like tell us about the restaurant. Yeah, there's like a cult following. Like, but tell us about what is it about the restaurant that attracts such a loyal following that like other restaurants don't seem to have.

So we call them caniacs. Um, do you consider yourself a kaniac? Yeah, a maniac, caniac.

Um you need a jacket. Yeah, I do. Yeah. One love. Come on.

One love. I mean, really, that's it, right? It's the one love. Our one love is our quality chicken finger meals. We do one thing and we do it very well, and that is quality chicken finger meals. Um it's you it's gonna be the same no matter where you are, no matter what time of day. Like it is always the same. Same quality, the same ingredients, the same, the same crep, the same person, well, not always the same person, uh, making your your meal, but it is all done the exact same, and it's that synonymous experience.

Wow. It's funny you say that. I uh so when it came to Topeka, and you know, we were all my buddies, we're having it for the first time, and some of us went earlier than others, and you know, how was it? How was it? It's like it's just like how it was in Lawrence, just in Topeka. Yeah, because you know, we'll a lot of us will drive to Lawrence because it's like a 20-minute drive for us. Drive to Lawrence, eat dinner, drive back. And so they're all like, is it different? Nope, it's the same thing, it's just as good.

That makes me so happy.

Yeah, yeah.

It should be.

It should be, it should be.

Yeah, she was waiting to hear what you were gonna say. Yeah, was it the same? It better have been the same. Yeah, yeah, nope, exact same. Super great. That's awesome.

Actually, the team at Lawrence did a really nice job um developing some leaders and transferring some leaders to our Topeka locations. So we have some experience um crew members and managers come over from Lawrence. So, yeah.

The Dog Behind The Name

So, can you give us a little bit of history of the restaurant? Like, is Raising Cane's the name of the dog? What's the what's the how did the restaurant? What's the dog pleasing and how to do that?

Yes, so um Kane, Raising Kane is a yellow lab. We are named after a yellow lab. Okay. Um, we that is our mascot. We are on Kane Three, and Kane Three is always in the Rouge Officer, the Dallas Office. We've all met Kane.

What's Kane three? Oh, like the grandson. We're on the third of Raising King the third, guess what? Sure, sure.

So yeah, Kane Three. Um yeah, that was our founder's dog uh in college when he was opening the first raising cane. And what better name than you know, way to honor your littery friend than to name an entire almost thousand unit restaurant content after yeah.

I think that's so cool. Um that he probably got made fun of in the beginning. It's like you named your restaurant after your dog. Yeah and then now that you know it's the success it is, like that's cool.

It was almost named after like a salmon, right? That was almost the name.

It was like Yeah, the story is that um everybody who was helping him, you know, open the first restaurant, uh, Kane was always there. And so that's kind of how it turned into the name of the restaurant. Yeah. Was hey, well, yeah, let's do this. Um, so it's pretty cool. Some of the older restaurants have Kane um number one's picture, and actually Topeka has Kane number three on the side of the building. Yeah. So it's cool.

Why Topeka Finally Got Cane’s

Um okay. So you were talking about how you were cooking chicken in in Topeka yesterday. How often are you guys at different locations? I mean, you're from the Kansas City area, but you were here yesterday. Um, how often are you guys traveling and visiting other locations?

Um, I travel quite a bit. It really depends on the needs of the restaurants. Um, so I'm in Topeka quite a bit now just because we're only a couple months in. Sure. Um, just to help support. That's that's my job is just to support the operations, to support my leaders, support the crew, um, make sure, you know, we're serving the community. Um, so I'm in Topeka a lot. I'm in Wichita a lot um because we just opened uh that one will be a year old in June.

Okay.

Um, and then my other time is going around Kansas City to those locations.

How many does Kansas City have?

We have six in Kansas City? Yeah.

Yeah, there's 15 in the greater Kansas City market. So Joplin in Springfield to Wichita, um, I mean everywhere in between there, but that's awesome.

Wow. What did it take to get a Keynes in Topeka? What was that criteria look like? Uh is there a reason why because I mean it was, I think Canes has always been one of those top five restaurants. Like, what would we want in Topeka? Canes. Um what was that criteria looking like? Why did we now just get one? Uh if you guys know the answer to that.

I mean, I don't think there's a necessarily specific answer, but really just the brand following, the brand awareness, you know, the way that yeah, exactly. Kanex well, our first restaurant in the Kansas City market, like from Droplets Ringfield, Lawrence was actually the first location opened in the entire greater Kansas City.

When was that?

Uh almost 10 years ago, actually. 10 years, um, May 3rd, I believe. It's our 10th anniversary, our 10th birthday rather.

So the first one in Kansas was in Lawrence. Wow.

Yeah. Yeah. So really, I mean, Lawrence, we mean we out we all grew just the one location. Essentially, Lawrence is one of our busier restaurants for sure. But just as we grow, we opened um you know Olasa during the pandemic. And a little bit before that was Linuxa and Felton. And we just kind of open in different areas. And as those communities kind of take over and really fill in and see where they're where they're coming from, where do people live? Where do people go to school? Um, where makes sense? Topeka's always been on the list.

It's just when waiting to kind of expand. Yeah.

Yeah.

What does it take? I'm so you guys have open you said there's 15 in the top.

Yeah, in the great in the greater market. Yep.

And they started 10 years ago. So 15 restaurants in 10 years, that seems like a lot. Which is amazing. What does it take to open a store? Apparently, you guys are very good at it. If you're doing multiple ones a year. Yeah.

What does it take? It takes a lot of hard work. Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, no, I mean, it just takes a lot of planning. You know, I think that one of the things that we do at Raising Canes really well is um execute and plan and you know, find leaders. You know, we don't just hire to hire a position. We hire to develop future leaders. I think that's one of my favorite parts about, you know, uh supporting these restaurants is, you know, seeing a 16-year-old with the first job and how their eyes light up and how they learn, you know, different social skills and, you know, seeing their worth ethic grow. Um, you know, I think for me, you know, even from Lawrence to opening Topeka, we promoted a few people to a different level of management to open Topeka. And that's so cool to see the growth and development of the teams.

Training Leaders From The Fryer Up

Wow. What does that look like? Like what does the leadership development process at raising canes look like?

It is very detailed. Um, you can go to a lot of companies that say, oh, we're gonna train the right way, we're gonna do it the right way, man, we do it the right way. Wow. Um, and development is number one top uh of mind, you know, part of our business unit team. We also have an area leader of training. Um, and she helps me in operations go around and monthly we are in restaurants together, making sure we are talking to crew members that are interested in management. Um, we have development plans for crew members. We have development plans for all levels of our management team. Um, so you know, we want to grow internally. Um, we love hiring externally, but we also love to see people develop.

Yeah. Oh, so I I love that. I'm very interested in that as well. What, what what so let's say, let's say I'm an entry-level cashier. I'm 16. I just, you know, got my first car and this is my first job. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm I like want to do a good job. What's like what is my how do I develop as yeah.

So the the first thing is uh becoming a trainer. Um so we have different incentives for being a trainer, they get paid more. Um and so you do a good job.

You learn how to train other people to do your job. Yep. That's amazing.

And then we cross-train. So if you start off as a cashier and then you go learn the drive-thru, and then oh, you decide, hey, I want to try the kitchen. Um, again, all of those levels, um an incentive is you make more money. Sure. Um, so 16, 17 year olds that are getting their first paycheck, they're like, oh, yeah, let me let me do this.

Yeah, I can make more than this. Yeah. Okay. I like that. That's cool. That's a really cool dynamic of like instantly learning how to train other people into because I mean that seems like that would build that into your culture of development. Like, hey, we're all developing and helping everyone develop, which is really cool.

So you guys visit lots of different locations. Is there like a GM for each store that's on site, you know, full time?

Yeah, we call them restaurant leaders or restaurant partners, and depending on their their tenure and whatnot. Uh, but yeah, that's essentially very good GM.

This is a side comment. I uh I don't know why. I was on Raising Cain's Google My Business Profile. It was like a month or so ago, and I was just scrolling through. I don't know why. Because you're a Kaniac. That's why. Maybe so. And I thought it was just so funny uh that uh you're looking through and it they got hundreds of reviews at the Topeka location already, you know, all five stars, except for one or two. You know I'm talking about Haley. And I thought it was hilarious. And the only reason I bring it up is because it is so funny. It was the one star that I saw was like posted the week you opened, and it was like the long the line was really long. It was like it was like the line was so long it took forever. I'm like, what do you expect on opening day? That's hilarious.

That is a part of my uh one of my hats I wear is you know, monitoring Google and Yelp reviews and all that. And yeah, it was, I don't know, within a couple of days of opening day. I'm like, you guys, we have I don't know, maybe seven reviews, all five stars, except for one, which is a one-star review that said, Yay, I'm the first one-star review. Loved it. Amazing experience. Like everything else was like five out of five, five out of five, but just the one star.

So they could be the first one star. You're just trolling it, that's yeah. That's brutal.

You know what? We'll take it.

That's almost worse than the one I mentioned. It was like, oh, the line was really long. Like that one wasn't even a complaint.

Yeah, it was just a little bit.

They just wanted to be the first one.

I feel like it should make you feel better. Have you guys seen that national parks have can be reviewed? Yes, yes. Have you seen this? No. So there are national parks with one-star reviews. They're hilarious. So they're on Google and yep, they're all over the place. But like, so I I went through them one time. Uh, someone complained that the Grand Canyon was too big. And they said essentially one star. It's too big. Uh, there was one where it was like something about the Rocky Mountains or something, and there was like no Wi-Fi. Zero, one star. That's just hysterical. I know. You're like, it's a freaking national park.

Like, what are you looking for here? As a Kaniac, I saw that and I was like, this is why we don't have nice things. You guys are ruining this for us. Yeah.

That's funny. But I think it's unavoidable, right? Like, I would I would like what is is there like a ratio, maybe you're like that's like an acceptable ratio? Because I assume, like, hey, even if you were the most amazing restaurant on the planet, there are just people who just want to give one-star reviews. So, like, what's the threshold of like, hey, okay, those don't really count.

And I even just I mean, just that. It's not like we we can't control it. We can't we're not gonna incentivize people to leave positive reviews. It's just ensuring that we are giving the same consistent above and beyond experience in restaurant, out of restaurant, in the drive-thru, in the community, um, in that that will reflect.

Focused Menu And Founder Bet

Yeah, and part of it too, I think fast food restaurants, like you're going to get an order wrong. Like, that's just the nature, like that you're in the business, it's going to happen. So if it makes you feel better, I saw that one star and I left five stars. It does actually make things. I was like, all right, I gotta do something about that. Yeah, yeah. He commented this guy's an idiot. This guy has no time at. Uh, I want to switch gears to talking a little bit about maybe your guys' business model and what you serve on your menu. I have it's not quoted you, but I've referenced Keynes so many times on this show, talking about how, because we interview a lot of local business owners who some of them do one thing really well, some of them try and do a lot of things. You know, there are they do coffee, they do this, they do all this things. And I quote Keynes all the time saying, You need to take, you need to model after Keynes, do one thing and do it really well. And we've joked how someone needs to open a pizza place here in Topeka and just do pizza and do it really, really well. Someone needs to open, you know, a hot dog stand and do hot dogs really well. Yeah. And so I guess speak to that a little bit. I'm sure that's intentional, but has it always been that way? What's the idea behind that?

So, yes, it's always been that way. Um, you know, one of the things that we always say is um, you know, we work hard and we have fun doing it. Um but we have a very focused menu, right? And you think, oh, it's easy. You just do chicken fingers and fries and toasts, like not that hard. But we are so intentional on every single step that, you know, myself, my boss, every level, we are in there coaching every single day, making sure that the chicken fingers are going into the oil the right way, they're coming up the right shape, the right size. Like it is very, very intentional. I mean, we get asked all of the time, do you have ranch? Do you have barbecue sauce? 30 years later, no, we do not have ranch, no, we do not have barbecue sauce. And if Todd were sitting next to us today, he would say, We're never gonna have ranch and we're never gonna have barbecue sauce.

Yeah, yeah.

This is the menu, this is what we serve, and we do it really well.

How did he make that decision early on? We're we're only like, was there a moment in the early days where he's like, maybe I'll throw a burger on the menu and then did it? And it's like, no, that was a bad decision.

Nope. The only thing he ever altered was he added a the chicken sandwich. Oh that was it.

That was that was the only thing. Yeah, we've got honey mustard that's off menu. That's the only other sauce.

My wife loves the honey mustard, and she told me to mention that today. Because it's off menu. She goes, I love it.

And it's so good, they make it bang in.

Yeah. Really? Wow. That's amazing. Okay, so sorry. So how did he ex how did he decide like intentionally, hey, we're just gonna do this one thing really well?

It started with his business plan um in college that he got actually the worst grade in in the theory. I read that. Yes, that is a very true story. The professor did end up um calling him and contacting him later on in life to say, I'm sorry. Wow. Um, because his business plan was he's gonna do one thing and he's gonna do it really, really well. And the professor said, Nobody's gonna come to a restaurant if they can only get chicken fingers. Like that's not gonna happen. Well, we're about to open the thousandth location this year. So um he just he stuck to it.

That's crazy. That's crazy. Yeah. How many locations are there exactly?

Um, 998 right now, I believe. Opening one today or tomorrow. Like we open them literally almost every day around the country. Wow. Um, our thousandth location is going up in Hollywood, California.

Wow. Is there anything special gonna happen for the thousandth?

Yes. Um, it actually coincides with our third 30th anniversary in August.

That's crazy.

Um, so we do our plush puppies, right? We have plush puppies for holidays and um different things. This October, we actually did breast cancer awareness once um to raise money for that. And it they're really cute, they're awesome. Um, and we're gonna have a 90s grunge plush puppy coming out. Wow, yeah, that's cool. Yeah.

So it's like a toy people can get, like in the little like plush stuffed stuffed toy.

Yeah, stuffed animal essentially. Um, but yeah, we sell them. It it used to be just the holiday season. They do whatever our holiday campaign. Um, and we partner with local pet welfare organizations in each market, in each restaurant's area, um, and all the net proceeds go back to those organizations. And we've expanded it over the years to um different times of year in like the October, we you know, partnered with Ruskans or Awareness. Um, we'll do more specific nationwide organizations too. So I'm not sure what the proceeds for our 90s grunge copy will be yet, but underexcited to say that that was another one.

That's cool. That's super cool. That is very awesome. Yeah. Wow. How long, how long did it take for you guys to find a location for Topeka? Were you uh did you I'm assuming you guys made the decision, hey, we want to put a location in Topeka and then it was just kind of waiting to find a place. What did that process look like? Were you just guys keeping your eyes open for a while or was it easy?

So real estate and development really does all of that for us. Um, you know, I think Topeka has been looked at for about I would say two to three years before the location was found. Um and then it usually takes about a year, you know, depending on all of the things that go into it. So yeah, just finding that right location and you know, I can I can say that for whatever reason the steak and shake that was there is uh did not last.

I can tell you why it didn't last. We don't need to get into that. Was canes involved?

No.

Oh, yeah. Let's just say someone found cockroaches there. Who put them there? I don't know. Hard to say.

Yeah, I'm kidding. Yeah, uh that went that building went up so fast. I was I was driving past I drive past it every day to go to work, and every day there's people working on it weekends when it's snowing, when it's raining, and you know, they're over there planting grass and the building's not even up yet, but I know it's coming. It it was awesome to see go up. That's wild. What I think is so funny about the location, at least into P. Is it's a small location. It's not a very big, like as far as seating goes. But I never struggle to find a seat when I go in. Like my wife always, like, I don't want to go to Cain's, you know, like it's always really busy. You know, we want to sit down and eat. I'm like, we've gone a lot and we've never not found a seat. It's just it's always busy. Yeah. So I think that's really cool. And maybe it's just how fast people are able to order, get their food sit down, you know, it didn't take super long to eat versus a standard, you know, people are ordering for five minutes, trying to pick what they want. And then so I thought that was really cool.

That's awesome.

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Culture That Feels People First

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The people and the culture, um, we have a great culture. Uh we work really hard, but we have fun doing it. Uh, there's a lot of times when we get super, super busy, and the first thing we do is crank up the music and get everybody pumped up and just we just have a lot of fun. And, you know, again, the customers come in, they can feel the vibes, you know. I hopefully you have a good time every time you come in. Um, so yeah, I would say that.

Wow.

Yeah, absolutely.

Second that, yeah. The culture is unmatched. Um I've never experienced working for a company quite like this. Um, and people that know me in my life too, that have gotten to experience what it is like, you know, to come into the restaurant, like our friends and family that come in and see um or come to community events, you want that, or this is just like this is your job. Yeah, we get to do this.

Wow, yeah. So, like what what about it? Like, what about the culture is so different than you know, working like if you were a marketing person somewhere else? What like what is it about the the culture is so different?

I would say it really is like working hard and having fun, right? Like that we're here to do a job. We you're here for work, we've got one job too, we've got one thing to do, our quality chicken finger meals. But it's very people first. We're a very people first organization. Uh no one's afraid to roll their sleeves that can get their hands dirty. We will all jump in. Whatever the priority is, we were are there, you know, to help cover each other's restaurants and put these trainers and cashiers at one restaurant. One restaurant, um, you know, Shawnee, Kansas may need a closer for some reason. They're short staffed on prom night because it's all the local proms there. We'll bring crew members from Topeka out and come, they could get a work a shift in a different restaurant and get to experience something new. It's really like everybody's just here to do the job, but also support everyone. And there's really nothing like that.

That's cool. Yeah, that is really cool. So I assume that starts kind of all the way up with the founder. Like, is he just like a really fun person? And that's like a really important value to him, is like, hey man, we all gotta be in this together. Because I I could see how I we I think we're fun people, but I I don't know if like if we were into yeah, exactly. There you go. Uh if we were intentional, I could see how that value could get lost very easily.

Especially with quickly expanding growth. Right.

You're just like, hey, we need to hire business-minded people who can help this thing survive. They may not be fun people. I'm a fun person, but you know what I'm saying? Like, if you yeah, like how like I'm curious what he's done to be very intentional about, hey, we're not gonna lose that. Like this has to be a part of every layer of what we do. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, that's very top of mind. We um and from every level, from Todd Graves all the way down to you know, us here sitting in the middle of Kansas. Um we don't lose sight of that. The reward is a recognition. Um these are people's lives, people have lives. This is just work, but it is work, you know, it's like a perfect marriage of that. Yeah.

How many employees work at maybe corporate canes?

Gosh, that's a good question. I have absolutely no idea. I'm very bad at crowd map.

So I guess crowd map is it is it you know, less than 50?

Like at the corporate office at the Dallas headquarters.

So I guess uh how many people work for canes that aren't cashiers and uh and cooks that you see in the stores? Uh I don't need an exact number. Is it like you know, hundreds?

Is it I mean each market's got probably three to four people and just the business unit team that are field-based and like that. I would say a couple thousand.

Yeah, great. Yeah. Absolutely. So I was trying to find it on my phone and I couldn't find it. But I have a buddy um who's a realtor in town, works with me, and he uh he when Keynes was announced that it was coming to Topeka, um, he made he posted on Facebook what he'd been doing for the past several years. He had said he was a he's a kaniac openly about it. He had been emailing uh headquarters for years, sending real estate locations on where they should be whenever something would go up for sale or when a business was closing. He would email corporate and be like, uh, you guys need to put in a canes here. This would be great for this, this, and this reason. He even had like uh car traffic counts and all these things. Yes, he was like going crazy on why, you know, he was making a case as a real estate professional. This is why this is a good location for canes. And he said he was doing it for years. So when it was finally announced, he he put out on Facebook, he was, I would like to take partial credit for this. Because I don't know if I I don't think I even sent him the steak and shake location, but I would just like to know, let them know I put Keynes on I put Topeka on Keynes' radar. That's hilarious.

That is so funny. I love that. That is amazing.

Uh Joseph Frobisher, I think is his last name. Frobisher. Shout out, Joseph. Shout out to Joseph Joseph.

It's amazing. So the tell us about the one love phrase. Is that about chicken fingers? Like how did that phrase come to be?

Um, one love, you know, we've got one thing, we do it really well. Our chicken quality chicken finger meals. That's our one love. Um we do one thing, we do it really well, and that's the focus. That's priority, that's what comes above everything else. And it really, I mean, that can triple to anything else, right? Um, one love, our crew, one love the culture, but ultimately it's those quality chicken figures.

Toast Hacks And Recipe Myths

This is what we're making, this is what we do. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. What's the hardest part about your role?

I would say in my role, like there's, you know, in the marketing realm of getting based in a community in an area, is there's so much that we want to get involved in, so much that we can get involved in, so much that we are involved in. Um, and in my role, it's, you know, I'm emailing, texting, calling elementary school PTA mom to We're having Donna Kelsey come to a restaurant and being our guest crew member for a day. Wow. It is very dynamic, it is very vast, but every one of those instances is equally as important. Um, and it's just it's a lot, it's a lot to juggle. It's a lot to spread our one love and to make sure everyone feels supported and partnered with and uh vice versa. But hanging out with Donna Kilston.

To peek an insider. That's right. That's right.

Unfortunately, I don't I can't connect you with Donna, but perhaps we get Joseph on it.

Yeah, we like that PTA mom on the show. We need her.

That was a good answer. Thank you. Pretty impressed with that.

That is true. Um, no, I would say for me, just having so many locations and making sure that I give every location the support that they need um to make sure that every single meal is going out the right way and we serve the perfect box um from the time we open to the time we close. So it doesn't matter if you come in at 10 a.m. and get the first box of the day, or if you come in at 1 a.m. and get the last box of the day. It's all the same. Um, and just making sure that I'm there for that support.

That's awesome.

Uh we had a question that uh so our producer Gabe, he's got some editors on his team, and one of the editors wrote this in for us to ask. She is a Kaniac. I mean, I she puts him to shame. She puts me to shame. Um she was more excited about this interview than we were, and that's saying something because we're pumped. Um she wants to know has the recipes of chicken or the toast, has anything ever changed over time? Is it ever, you know, you ever updated updated or evolved the recipes? Because she swears that the toast is better now than it was then that something changed.

I would say no. Um, since I've been here, absolutely not. It's all the same.

Uh I don't, not that I know of. I think the only thing that has ever changed since I've been at Keynes is the bread used for just the sandwich.

Okay.

Yeah, it's like it was a Kaiser roll or it is a Kaiser roll. I don't know. Don't quote it.

It was a Kaiser roll. Yeah, she uh maybe a taste.

But not the regular toast, yeah, not the Texas taste.

Her taste has gotten better now.

Well, hopefully she'll watch this. I I would love to ask her this question. Um, but if you have if she has not tried it, try having the toast upside down. Because if you oh, yeah, you gotta try it now. I'll see you later. I'll be in Topika today. We'll see you later. But if you have the garlic butter straight on your tongue, way more prevalent.

Oh eat it upside down. So when we went last week, they told me to order what was it called? The bob.

Uh-huh.

Is it the bob? The bob. So it's butter on both sides. Yeah, yes. Get it your toast bobbed.

So I went and I was like, I told the cashier and I was like, hey, I was told to ask for a bob. And they're like, the bob? I was like, yeah, the bob. Yeah, sure. Uh and it was amazing so it's just that on both sides. Yeah, but that was great. Yeah. That was fire. Unbelievable. The toast was actually better than I was expecting. I assumed the bread was gonna be like an afterthought, is all that. The bread was pretty good. Yeah.

The bread was amazing. You see that? Yeah. Uh we were talking before how uh sometimes I go to I go to Canes and I view Canes so highly on some of my palate because I know I'm gonna get the bread. And he goes, but it's a chicken store. You go for the chicken. I'm like, sometimes. Sometimes you go because I know I'm gonna get bread. Chick-fil-A doesn't have bread. That's they don't have bread.

Yeah.

Canes has got the the bob toast.

That's right. I would say, like a good buttered toast. There's nothing really that beats that. It's true.

Okay, question for you guys. You guys are going to Caesar. Do you guys get sick of it because you're there all the time, or is it something you still you still eat?

No, literally never. In the more time I spend in a restaurant, I'd like I'm gonna drink hot sauce.

Yeah. Like I cannot wait until my turn.

Yeah.

All right. What's your order then?

Oh, box combo. All the box combo. I love our slaw.

So that was my next question is do you get slaw or do you get the extra piece of toast? I get the slaw. Okay. Do you get the slaw?

I am not a slaw person. I'm a no slaw extra fries kind of guy. Extra fries.

That's what I ordered. Oh, I'm an extra toast kind of guy. Nice. So can anything be subbed for anything?

Anything except for the chicken.

Wow. Box combo, no fries, no slaw, no toast. Extra chicken on all of them. Yeah.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone ever, no sauce extra something. I don't, I've never seen the sauce subbed. You gotta get the sauce. Sorry, both sometimes.

You're both sauce, not no sauce.

Oh, sauce for sure.

Is sauce, is that is that proprietary? Is it like a secret and that's fine? Only managers can make it.

I was wondering. Only who can make it? Managers.

Wow. So the managers show up every morning, they make that.

Yeah, two, three times a day, at least. Interesting. Depending on how busy the location is. Wow. Yeah. I watched it be made three times yesterday in Topeka.

That's crazy. I was wondering, I figured it was, but I'm like, how do they keep this under wraps with a bunch of 16-year-olds making it? That makes sense. That makes sense, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Has he ever part of the leadership development process? Yeah. Exactly. The incentive is we'll teach you how to make the sauce if we can trust you. Yeah.

Yeah. Does Kane, I don't think they do. Does Kane sell the sauce? Has there ever been thoughts of doing that?

Not that I know of. I mean, I'm sure there's been thoughts of it. We hear it all the time. It's, you know, just like ranch in the barbecue sauce. It's like, yep, yep. We'll roll that up. We'll roll that bean back up. So I'm like, I'm sure they hear it nonstop that we should bottle it and sell it. But not at all.

You can come get a 32-ounce cup of it though in the restaurant.

You can do 32 ounce.

Really? Yeah.

Wait, so how would you order that?

Can I get a gallon of cane sauce? Yeah.

And they'll do they'll just like pour it into a gallon.

Yeah, we'll just pump it in. Yeah. That's funny. Oh, we sell we sell cups of sauce all the time.

Really? Really? For people to take home and put in the fridge. Wow. That's funny.

We had a wedding that uh did like a late night large order and for the reception in, I think it was maybe Blue Springs a couple weeks ago. And they had a cane sauce fountain.

What? What? So how much sauce did they order?

I don't know. I'm sure. I mean, it was probably just like recycling essentially, but it surely it had to be. I don't know if they got it in a gallon jug, but they surely had to have a lot. Yeah.

Catering, Community Events, Scrappy Team

So I guess speaking to that, I didn't know this, but you can cater canes. They do you do uh uh all sorts of stuff. What does that side look like? Is that a big part of the business?

Is that just kind of an afterthought or I think that's what we're really trying to grow. Um, but we've had tailgates for a long time. Um, a lot of people come in for, you know, before football games or, you know, uh large uh school um to get together, stuff like that. But we definitely have the ability to um deliver large orders uh if we have enough notice. I mean, Haley's doing one at peek on Thursday, actually.

Yeah, we're doing um, we're feeding uh partnering with NA NAIA, the cheer and dance competition on Thursday night. Yeah, so Keynes is their meal of choice. Um like I'm free. I will be there, I will rent a van if I need to. I mean, and that's it. It's essentially it's us. Yeah. Wow.

Well, yeah, because you said there's did you say there's five of you that are like over the Kansas region?

Uh there's three of us.

Um yeah, the training, operations, um, and marketing are so basically anything that's not a local person in store like an event like this is the three of you having to figure out why.

Yeah, and I need Molly, our restaurant leader, you know, in the restaurant pushing these orders out. So I'm not gonna pull you. But in terms of overseeing, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. That's that's pretty impressive. Honestly, that's that's kind of wild. That's a lot. So you guys are like a scrappy, like, hey, the three of us gotta make this happen. Yeah, yeah.

We will do it whatever we can. Yeah, I'm like, if I need to rent a conversion van right this week on Thursday night, I'm doing it.

Love it. That's dope. That yeah, that would be that would be a fun job. I could see. I see it.

It is, it really is.

I can see it. All right, so we have some rapid fire questions. Uh he kind of stole the thunder of some of them. We already got your did you say what your order is?

What's your uh uh yeah, no slaw extra fries.

Yes, no slaw extra fries. You're both sauce, not no sauce. Um what's your opinion on crinkle fries? You guys love them.

Love them.

Extra fries. So you really love that. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, I love our fries. Like I might love our fries more than the chicken.

Oh, it's like what is the most number of chicken fingers you've eaten in one one go?

Probably like four. Yeah. Four.

Just yeah, solid. I'm like, start with the toast.

Fill up pretty quick.

That is true.

If you yeah. So you start with the toast?

Sometimes I mean it's a bite of everything.

Okay. I end with my toast.

Oh no, I'm like, I make sandwiches out of the toast and the sauce and the sauce. Really?

Okay, so I've never done it. You're like, you're this is this is interesting because I think this applies to anything too. It's like you're a eat a bite of everything, rotate around. You're a let's hey let's put it all together. What's your strategy?

Well, I go, I go really, I go half fries, half chicken, half fries, half chicken, toast. It's my dessert.

I learned early on, like as a kid, that I eat all my fries as quickly as possible because fries generally are the thing that aren't good cold. Oh, yeah. And then like most places, at most places, fries are the thing that like the chicken, I could eat that cold, and it's gonna be great.

Yeah.

Even the bread, maybe. Uh, but the fries, I'm like, I gotta eat these as fast as possible. Yeah. That's that's my so people are always like, dude, you haven't touched any of your food. Like, no, I'm going to town on the fries.

That's always our advice to people in a new restaurant area, as well. Is if you've not had canes before, like you have to have it in the restaurant or at least go to the drive-through and eat it in your car.

Right. Right.

Like you have to have it hot and fresh. Like the way it's intended. Exactly. From Todd's hands to your mouth. Like that cow is there to be eaten.

Yeah. I guess the truth is. I'm gonna get you a t-shirt with that. From Todd's hands to your mouth. I've never said that before.

Oh, that's man, that's coined right there. That's funny. From Todd. That should be that should be every every cashier should say. From Todd 10. From Todd 10 to your mouth. That is amazing. Uh well, I think we already answered the toast question. Is the toast underrated or overrated? Ooh, that's a good question.

I would say, I would never say it's overrated. So underrated for sure. Yeah, I think it's underrated too. Yeah.

Do you prefer the cane sauce or the off-menu? Honey must be a little bit mustard.

Cane sauce for sure. I love the honey mustard, though. That's actually my real order is like no slacks or fries, add a honey mustard.

Okay. I always add a honey mustard. Are there any other off-menu items?

No, as far as like food products, no. Just like the way you can kind of like customize your order. Yeah.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Coach somebody. Like, how can we? What are all the ways we can customize an order?

Okay, so how I would tell like, you know, like the people in my innermost circle. This is secret knowledge. Like I mean, because I'm not a pules of person. If you like coleslaw, have your pules up, but no slaw extra, whatever. No saw extra sauce, probably. No saw extra fries, whatever. No saw extra toast, really. Um butter on both, extra crispy.

What's the bread is extra crispy?

The chicken. And the fries, you could do either.

You can order anything extra crispy.

What you like? I know. Sorry, every sorry everyone at the spigo restaurant today. Every order is extra crispy. Because it does take a lot of things. No, no, yeah. Your chicken or fries. If I'm doing an order, my head's sorry, but extra crispy please.

That is awesome. Okay. Let's go. Interesting. I'll try that. Dude, that's wild. Uh what is uh canes for breakfast, yes or no?

Absolutely. I mean, sometimes I'm there by 7 a.m. So by 9 a.m. I'm hungry. Yeah.

Yeah. What time does Canes open?

10. 10.

Universally.

Um, across most, I would say, of the country. I think in some markets um in busier areas or more city, like a little earlier, but yeah.

I got one. Yeah, go for it. Favorite non-Cane's chicken place. If you're going to get chicken, it's controversial. Yeah. It can't be canes.

You're in a place where you haven't opened a store yet. Yeah, yeah. There you go.

Okay. This is actually crazy, and I get a lot of hate for this. I love a dairy clean chicken tender.

All right. That is a hot take.

Which that is interesting.

Yeah. Love it. I'm not going that way. Um, I'm gonna have to say I like I like Bojangles.

Okay. We don't have that now. Yeah, I was gonna say, I don't think I've had that.

We don't really have that, but we did where I used to live in the south.

Okay. Yeah, okay. That's like a southern that's a real answer. She said Dairy Queen because they're not a real threat. It's like no one takes that answer seriously.

I ordered it. I go to Dylan's and I get a frozen bag of chicken, I take it home. That's what I guess. Yeah. Kirkland's frozen. Tyson, the frozen stuff. Yeah. That's hilarious. Um what is something customers generally get wrong about canes?

That were franchise, I would say is probably the most common.

Yeah. I was gonna say I thought it was a franchise for sure. I just feel like that's the only way Big Corp does it, but that's really cool. You don't. Here's a question. And you can be honest, it's a Topeka show, but we don't we don't need you to pander us. Fate, what's your one of your favorite locations that you have in the greater Kansas City area? And is there a reason?

They're all my favorite.

They're all your kids. They're like, yeah, making your favorite child. Okay.

I can't do that.

What's one you visit most frequently?

Well, right now it's Topeka because it's the newest one.

Oh, it's your favorite. Sounds great. Which store which store manager do you like the most?

By name.

He's our favorite child. Uh, sir. Yeah. Yeah, he helps everyone.

Yeah.

We need my my favorite on the team is my boss, Isaiah Underwood.

That's a smart answer. Good answer. This lady needs a raise. Yeah. Uh, and uh, which employee would you like to take the opportunity to fire live on the air today?

None of them. We need all, please. No one leave.

We need all of them. That's awesome. Uh, is there any sort of like weirdest order someone has tried to order at a restaurant?

Um, I would just say I did have somebody that tried to sub everything for extra chicken. We were like, sorry, can't do that. So that was that was a little bit.

That's funny. Well, okay, let's let me think about this. If you if so you get there's what the th the things that are subbable, you have bread, fries, sauce. Slaw. Amateur. If if someone were to sub all of them for the same. Same one thing, so four of one thing, what would be the weirdest one thing to get four of?

Sloth.

I just love the coleslaw here. I want four things of coleslaw.

Is that all you got? That's all I got. Where could if if there are some other Kaniacs in Topeka that want a second location, they want to email someone about a real estate development on where you should be. I guess how could people get in touch with you? You guys on social media?

Uh at Raisin Canes on all platforms.

Great. It's amazing. Heck yeah.

Man, well, thank you guys so much. This is so much fun. Heck yeah. Yeah.

So we're going for lunch then?

I was gonna say we should all be on the raising.

Almost open.

Appreciate you guys. Let's go. Yeah. Thank you guys.