Raising Cane's buys historic office building for its chicken finger empire

Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers plans to move to a larger property in Plano, part of the former Electronic Data Systems (EDS) campus run by the late billionaire H. Ross Perot, Sr.

The property at 5320 Legacy Drive was sold to Raising Cane's on Aug. 13, 2024. The company is expected to move the site, previously held by an entity affiliated with State Farm Insurance Cos., in 2026.

It is part of the EDS campus it is still slated to become a life sciences center, called the Texas Research District. It will be built in what some have called the “God Pod” in the former EDS headquarters – main building.

Raising Cane's, then, will move to the property called Campus at Legacy, which is adjacent to the main building. The property was DIVIDED after EDS sold to Hewlett-Packard in 2008 for $13.9 billion.

The Cane's 400,000-square-foot office building will more than triple the chicken chain's footprint in Plano. The Plano City Council encouraged the deal by offering $6.16 million in economic development incentives, according to council documents.

Adding to Cane's commitment is to invest at least $20 million in renovations by the end of 2026, documents show.

They'll need the room: Cane's growth goal is $10 billion in sales in just over five years, by 2030. That's a big jump from the $1 billion sales figure it hit in 2018 .

Growing Cane founder Todd Graves is a billionaire himselfaccumulating a net worth of about $7 billionaccording to Bloomberg. That's all from his quick-service restaurant that sells chicken, hot sauce, fries, Texas toast — and a little more.

Graves has a terrible attitude about the company he started nearly 30 years ago near Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

“I think God made me good at chicken fingers to help me help people,” he said in 2023.

That year, he started the A&E TV show Secret saucewhere he spoke to restaurateurs and celebrities about their business success stories. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he starred on the Cooking Channel show Restoration of the restaurantwhere he gave $100,000 each to 10 restaurants.

Graves bought another one Penthouse listed at $25 million on Knox Street in Dallas. He is friends with celebrities of all kinds, including Texas singer Post Malone. or Dallas Cowboys and Post Malone themed Raising Cane opened in northwest Dallas in October 2023.

Raising Cane's expanded its restaurants to Texas nearly 20 years ago. Despite its Louisiana roots, its restaurant support office has been in Plano since 2009.

Co-CEO and COO AJ Kumaran's future plan is for Raising Cane's to operate 1,600 restaurants by 2030. It currently has more than 820 restaurants.

The company will remain in its current home at 6800 Bishop Road in Plano until 2026, then move to 5320 Legacy Drive.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich at X at @sblaskovich.