After nearly 20 years and 250 locations, Raising Cane’s has finally made the leap overseas with the first international store. London? Tokyo? Paris? Nope, it’s in Kuwait City, the capital of Kuwait.
As 225 Dine reports, Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves partnered with M. H. Alshaya Co.—the company that brought brands like H&M, Williams-Sonoma and Starbucks to the global scale—to open the first international Cane’s location in September and the restaurant has already started to build a loyal customer base in Kuwait City.
Of course, plenty of research and adjustments went into adapting our hometown brand to the Middle East. Graves got personally involved in research and planning for the new location and sent 15 restaurant leads and trainers to Kuwait to prepare the store and its team to carry on the Cane’s name.
Most importantly, Graves and his team focused on making the classic Cane’s menu halal-friendly—meaning that every part of the food’s ingredients, preparation, storage and service must be in accordance with Islamic law. The attention to detail has paid off, judging from the warm reception from Kuwait’s heavily Muslim population.
“We spent a lot of time sourcing products and ensuring that everything we serve is halal compliant,” Graves says. “I personally traveled to the Middle East several times and inspected chicken providers and all products to make sure they met our standards.”
Maybe the most noticeable difference at the Kuwait restaurant is the absence of the chicken joint’s namesake and mascot, Raising Cane the yellow labrador. Because of high rates of rabies and stigma surrounding pet dogs in the Muslim faith, dogs aren’t quite as universally popular in Kuwait as they are in the States. Raising Cane doesn’t appear in any signage or merchandise for the Kuwait store.
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