Raising Cane’s Chaos

What it’s like to work in one of the drunkest restaurants on the Minnesota campus

By Marie Ronnander

Chicken, crispy toast, and creamy coleslaw—the dream. If you’ve ever been one of the dozens of students packed into Raising Cane’s waiting for your meal, you know the craze. Standing in line for a miserable 20 minutes is brought to a sweet, sweet relief when you bite into that crispy chicken. 

Amidst the Cane’s chaos, I have often wondered what it’s like to be an employee. The patience required to deal with tipsy people for hours on end at very late hours is a skill possessed by saints that deserves an award. With a little digging, I was lucky enough to find an interviewee who, fittingly, preferred the pseudonym Queen Chicken (or QC for short). The goal was to understand the inner workings of the infamous chicken company. 

“It isn’t the greatest, most fun job,” shrugs QC, who found the job through a friend’s recommendation. She does, however, note that the pay is good and hours are flexible (which is extremely beneficial to a college student’s intense schedule). She reveals that Cane's coworkers are very tight-knit and news travels fast amongst the group. In her year of working there, she’s gotten a lot of gossip and goes on to explain one of their inside jokes. They like to shout “always one all day” to the cooks in the back. They do this when there is no one in line because someone always walks in at the last minute. A quintessential customer service experience. Of course, many of the most comical parts of the job are just simply the mindlessness of the drunk people who visit late at night. Very frequently she has customers come in and ask for their chick-fil-a sauce or wondering about the chicken restaurant’s vegan options. 

There has to be a downside in these situations as well. QC experiences the negative effects of secondhand smoke due to the amount of vapes blown straight into her face. Her worst moment was when the supply truck simply decided not to arrive. For an entire day, she had to explain to disappointed customers that they weren’t able to purchase lemonade, coleslaw, or toast. 

The high levels of intoxication also leads to high levels of stupidity. QC has even had money thrown in her face out of frustration because customers just “have no idea how to use [their] credit card.” Similar to any fast food restaurant, people forget that the employees are people too. “Believe it or not, asking us how our day is doing, actually makes our day,” voices QC. So next time you find yourself in the restaurant, don’t be afraid to strike up a conversation.

Knowing that many restaurants have “secret menu items,” I asked if Raising Canes had anything of the sort. “There aren’t exactly secret menu items, but you can order a bob, which means they will butter both sides of the toast.” QC explained. The more butter, the better the toast. You can also order it “extra crispy” if you’re truly craving the crispy chicken crunch.

All-in-all, QC does recommend Cane’s as a job. As stated before, the hours are easy to blend into your schedule, and they do a good job of making the job worth the pay. Of course, you get free food, which is always a big, fat plus. Queen Chicken says she hopes to be out of there as soon as she finds an internship in her desired job field, but she’s okay with where she’s at for now.