Raising Cane’s rises up with community during ribbon cutting ceremony in Wasilla

WASILLA — Dozens of people gathered at the new Raising Cane’s fast food restaurant in Wasilla Tuesday for the official ribbon cutting and grand opening ceremony.

“One of our big things with Raising Cane’s is we really focus on community,” Raising Cane’s marketing manager Ali Urbick said.

The community warmly welcomed the chicken finger chain on a damp winter morning. Urbick said that immersing into the community is what founder Todd Graves envisioned for each grand opening.

“Before we go to a community, we spend a lot of time researching the community, finding out about different organizations and connecting with the schools, and it’s really cool when we have our openings to see that all come together. Today was a perfect example of that right?,” Urbick said.

The Wasilla High School drum line performed several songs in the morning as hungry and curious Valley customers lined up around the restaurant. As the clock neared 10 a.m. Raising Cane staff and officials cut the ceremonial ribbon and customers started pouring in.

“You’ve got the cheerleaders here, and the Wasilla High School drum line, and a representative from the food bank, the chamber of commerce, and the deputy mayor. So it’s really cool and I think it kind of shows how much we’ve come into the community ahead of time,” Urbick said.

The inside of Raising Cane’s filled quickly with numerous customers and participating community members like the WHS band and Eddie Ezelle, executive director of the Mat-Su Food Bank. WHS students received a bounty of complimentary chicken fingers and more.

Both groups received support from Raising Cane’s. Ezelle said the food bank received a $1,000 check that morning.

Wasilla High School band director Jackie Johnson said the WHS band is now business partners with Raising Cane’s. She said it was very a exciting step for the band moving forward. The partnership marks a milestone for the band.

“This is our first business partner. We would love to have more but we’re excited to be with them. We’re absolutely thrilled to be here. We couldn’t wait,” Johnson said.

Johnson said that the drumline made sense for this event but there will be opportunities to collaborate with Raising Cane’s again in the future with the full band.

“So hopefully we’ll have several engagements with them throughout the year where we come play, kind of an exchanging thing, kind of helping us get what we need and providing community service for us, and they’re helping us with items that we need. We couldn’t be happier to have a business partnership with them,” Johnson said.

The Wasilla Raising Cane’s is the second location to open in Alaska, according to Urbick. She said the first opened earlier this year at the Tikahtnu Commons in Anchorage. She also said they’re planning to open a third location in South Anchorage near the Dimond Center early next year.

“So it will be cool to have our three kind of spread across the [Alaskan] area and go from there,” Urbick said.

Urbick noted there is an Alaskan connection to Raising Cane’s founding story. While Graves was working various jobs to save up money for his chicken finger chain, he commercial fished in Alaska.

The first Raising Cane’s opened in 1996, according their website. Urbick said they have nearly 470 locations across the country.

For more information, visit raisingcanes.com/our-story