Raising Cane’s chicken fingers restaurant now plans Cedar Rapids opening in 2021

A franchisee of Raising Cane's, a Baton Rouge, La., chicken fingers restaurant chain, plans to break ground in early 2021 for a northeast Cedar Rapids location.

Southern Hospitality Ventures of Lincoln, Neb., owns and operates Raising Cane's locations in Altoona, Cedar Falls, Davenport and West Des Moines.

The company purchased the 2½-acre former Ryan's Family Steakhouse property at 230 Collins Rd. NE in September 2019.

Justin Jones, co-owner and CEO of Southern Hospitality Ventures, said a number of other priorities delayed demolition of the former steakhouse and construction of a new 3,100-square-foot building by about a year.

'We expect to start construction in the first quarter when the ground begins to thaw and open in the fall of 2021,” Jones said Monday.

'We hope to be open in the fall, but we might be opening in late summer. We will tear down the existing building when we start construction.”

Southern Hospitality Ventures had planned to lease the remainder of the property, but Jones said that did not happen and Raising Cane's will be the sole building.

The restaurant, which will be open every day for lunch and dinner, will have six full-time managers and about 60 employees. It will have inside and outside seating as well as a drive-up window

'It will have an overhead door that we can open for access to the outdoor seating area,” Jones said.

Raising Cane's has been growing in the Midwest in recent years. Jones and his wife, Jennifer, launched Southern Hospitality Ventures in 2006 and filled out the Nebraska market by 2008.

Jones said Southern Hospitality Ventures plans to open another 12 or 13 restaurants, including two in Cedar Rapids, one or two more in the Quad Cities as well as locations in Coralville, Dubuque and Iowa City.