The Exchanges

Q You're almost at your third year anniversary for, uh, running Raising Canes and starting this. I want to ask you a question. I love, I've heard you say this before. What is the advice that these so-called, the bad advice, these so-called experts gave you when you were trying to start the very first Raising Canes?

A I think, you know, so having a dream to start a chicken finger only concept was just, uh, back then was in Louisiana, was kind of unheard of. It was just a totally new idea. You know, we're known for our Cajun and Creole food here. Like at lunch, people would get a plate lunch, some Cajun dish, and that's what people are used to. Also in the industry at that time, you know, McDonald's and these other big quick service restaurant chains, they were adding menu items because they didn't want the, the veto vote is what they called it. One person in the car that might not have the choice at that restaurant that they could get, they said they would veto the whole car and go somewhere else that had that menu item for their deal. They're also adding healthy items back then, so Starting a, you know, a restaurant and having an idea to do and to focus just on one thing, one singular product focused menu was just really unheard of at that time. We didn't have In-N-Out Burger in Louisiana, right?

AI assessment note: “they were adding menu items because they didn't want the veto vote”

Q When did you figure that out? Did you know that at the beginning?

A Yeah, no, no, no, I didn't. No, what I wanted was, what I wanted was craveable product, you know, and I knew from restaurants, you had that, the one craveable product on their menu, and then they have all these other menu items, all these other distractions. You're like, but everybody goes to Gino's to get that delicious carbonaro, right? Like it's like, focus on that, that, and do it extremely well. Don't try to be all things to all people, or you're going to be nothing to anybody, right? You have to be what people will be fanatical about. What they, and the restaurant is craveable. So, but what I want to do is create that craveable product everybody do. Then I saw the value of how quick I could do the drive-through, right? And so, it starts from when customer pulls up to the, to the order deal. The first time at Raising Gains, they look, they have to decide what they want, they do it. After that, they know what they want. Box combo, sweet tea, extra sauce. You know, whatever, whatever, whatever their, whatever their order is. So, the order's quick. Coming to the drive-through, we have a singular product focus, right, for that one menu item. We have one line, I'll take you back to the kitchen later. You can see down the line, toast is grilled on the end, you got chicken fryers, you got fry fryers, and you got the board. You can watch that cook-to-order process happen, like you…

AI assessment note: “Yeah, no, no, no, I didn't.”

Q So credit cards, SBA loan, you said it took a year for the development of So you had the lease before you opened it?

A Yeah, yeah, no, so it didn't sign the lease that doesn't hold it for you, right? So, but this location was available, and I knew it was going to be awesome. It took two years, two years from the business plan to where I actually opened up the restaurant. Took me two years, and so literally from writing the business plan from class, going to the banks, getting turned down, working in refineries, then working in, um, in Alaska for the summer, then coming back that fall, and we opened in 96, so it'll be the fall of 95 when I got back, Then, so I had, had some money on the deal. I went, got that SBA loan, and got, got the investors, and from there, then we started the construction process. We started getting the used equipment, and luckily, the equipment I went, I got from, from, I went into Houston and Dallas, restaurant supply houses, because, you know, restaurant business go out. Nine out of 10 go out of business. I could go buy stuff, and I'm like, I need a fryer that'll work for 60 days. Like, give me your cheapest fryers. They had to be 85 pound fryers, and they're like, well, this one's good. I'm like, yeah, it's 10 times as much. Like, I need something that lasts Because I know as soon as I prove this will work, I know I can get another loan, you know.

AI assessment note: “didn't sign the lease that doesn't hold it for you, right?”

Q So you had the whole market to yourself?

A The whole market to yourself opened up in, in, in, like, the West Bank. We opened up in the Harvey, and, like, it was in, like, not, 120 days or whatever for the next restaurant open. We fed first responders first, and when people came back, they just came in, and we were the only place to eat. They'd come in and eat. They'd, like, more come in and eat, right? Because it was like, you can come in, we got power, he's all generated power, we got generation all over the country. Got him in and set it up, and we galvanized at that point. Like, the team, and the community, and like, us being open, and then sales were nuts. Like, it was nuts. So now we had cash flow coming in. We could do these massive crew bonuses. We could give back to the community organizations, and I mean, I was just really, really proud of the team, and at the same time proud, I was, I was disappointed in myself, and I was disappointed in myself because I put all that in jeopardy. You know what I mean? I put all that in jeopardy for financing. From that day when I watched the levies break, I said, I'll never, ever, ever put the position, the company in a position That we're financially strapped. Like, I'll never do that again. And from that day, we got our metrics, and we worked towards, it took us a couple years to get there, but we worked towards those right, you know, it's like three times debt, equity, you …

AI assessment note: “120 days or whatever for the next restaurant open. We fed first responders first”

Q How impactful are those words of encouragement? Cause you're, you're young.

A Like somebody you respect that was just a good man and a really good, good real estate broker. Uh, I really respected that cause he saw that it was affirmation that why I was being so fanatical and trying to talk everybody into it. You know what I mean? Except for the bullet makers, he believed in me. I'm like, okay, okay. That's it. That's his little wind in my sails. To do this and basically told her, Hey, it's going to take them a year to put all this together, but I believe you'll do it. And then I believe you have a long-term tenant. Look, sure enough, we've been here for almost 30 years and we got like a hundred, a hundred year lease going forward. And, and, and the family, she passed away, but the family's like, no, you know, I'm trying to, I'm trying to buy it. They're like, we just have pride in this, you know, so we'll just keep doing, uh, to keep doing a lease. I said, but we'll give you a hundred years, you know, and options to, to stay in this original location.

AI assessment note: “it was affirmation that why I was being so fanatical... little wind in my sails”

Q like over time, you're still working a lot, but you're not as, it's not even fanatic because you're definitely fanatic, fanatical. And I want to ask you about your great quote about that, but you're just, You're more measured. You're going to live to survive the next day. So what are you like, how do you compare like the hours you're working now compared to when you started this thing?

A So when I started up and I give young entrepreneurs this advice, I'm like, imagine how hard it is to start your business, then multiply that by infinity. And if you're still committed to do it and you have the stamina to stick with that, then you'll be successful. Obviously you have to have a good product and, and concept, and you have to have something that's going to work to make something go. Which is often hard for people to see. The vision of chicken fingers down here in Baton Rouge was like, just chicken fingers, you know, just chicken fingers. Like, we like our plate lunches. We, we want variety, things like that. I'm like, wait till you have this product.

AI assessment note: “So when I started up and I give young entrepreneurs this advice”