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Raising Cane’s has built a fast food empire that’s closing in on 1,000 locations on the back of the chicken fingers that serve as its signature item. It goes without saying its restaurants are going to smell like them, but that odor has led to a legal battle concerning an eviction notice that was served by a landlord in Boston.
There are a number of fast food chains that have mastered the art of fried chicken, but Raising Cane’s became the first one to attempt to corner the market on chicken fingers after opening its first location near LSU’s campus in Baton Rouge in 1996.
It’s managed to do exactly that in the past 30 years, as the rapidly growing company currently boasts close to 950 restaurants around the globe and trails only Chick-fil-A and Popeye’s when it comes to the biggest fast food players specializing in chicken (it surpassed KFC for the bronze after raking in $5.1 billion in sales in 2024).
Chicken fingers are the main attraction at Raising Cane’s, although I will die on the hill that a place that specializes in those items should not require you to slather them in its signature dipping sauce in order to enjoy the tenders that are remarkably bland on their own.
Anyway…
You might think someone who agrees to let a Raising Cane’s set up shop in a building they own knows what they’re signing up for on the aroma front, but that was apparently not the case with a landlord in Boston who has been hit with a lawsuit after pushing for an eviction.
Raising Cane’s is suing a landlord who is trying to force out a restaurant in Boston for smelling like chicken fingers
Boston is currently home to three Raising Cane’s outposts, including the one that opened for business in a prime location on Boylston Street in the Back Bay neighborhood in 2023.
According to Boston.com, the chain signed a lease to serve as the “exclusive chicken restaurant” in the building where it set up shop that runs until 2037. However, it has found itself facing an early termination after the landlord, 755 Boylston, LLC, served it with an eviction notice in January.
According to a lawsuit that Raising Cane’s filed in Suffolk Superior Court, the landlord asserted the eviction was justified due to the “offensive odor” of chicken fingers that drew complaints from the tenants of a second-floor office space that’s located above the restaurant.
However, the chain says it has spent over $200,000 attempting to address the issue, including ventilation improvements, deep cleanings, and the hiring of a consultant who asserted the smell is actually the “result of building issues outside of Raising Cane’s leased area.”
It also noted the landlord appeared to violate the terms of the lease by signing a deal that would allow a Panda Express to open up directly next door in a space that was formerly home to a Starbucks (noting that chain profits from the “cooking, serving, and selling of de-boned chicken”), and positioned that eviction as an underhanded attempt to force them out to facilitate the arrival of the new tenant.
Raising Cane’s is hoping a judge will force the landlord to honor the lease and is also seeking unspecified monetary damages.