Zaxbys Vs Raising Cane's: Which Chicken Restaurant Came First?

When it comes to fried chicken, some folks don't play around. Like anything else that sets our passions ablaze, this appreciation for good fried chicken has manifested as a fan-initiated rivalry between two major chicken tender chains — Raising Cane's and Zaxby's.

These fast casual restaurants have similar offerings, famously serving up chicken fingers, crinkle cut fries, buttery toast, and coleslaw — among other items. And, of course, there are the sauces. (If you're on the hunt for the perfect dipping sauce, you have to try our copycat Raising Cane's sauce recipe.) Whether Zaxby's or Raising Cane's is better is undoubtedly a matter of opinion — and we're doing our very best not to insert ours here. However, the question of which came first, we can answer.

Zaxby's was founded in Statesboro, Georgia, in 1990 by Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley. The two had been friends since childhood and had a shared dream of bringing quality Southern cooking and hospitality to the fast food scene. Six years later, Todd Graves opened Raising Cane's in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. While there's no denying Zaxby's came first, both have fascinating origins.

Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley had each other's backs in middle school, high school, and in college, too. So, when McLeroy told Townsley he was ready to give up his rock star aspirations and sell his drum kit to move forward with his dream of opening a chicken restaurant, Townley supported his friend by matching his $8,000 investment. With $16,000 pooled,  they opened the first Zaxby's across from the Georgia Southern University campus in Statesboro, Georgia. 

While McLeroy headed the day-to-day operations, Townley was the finance guy, working a mortgage job by day and assisting with the fast-growing business by night. Eventually, their success led them to start franchising Zaxby's. Today, there are more than 900 locations across 17 states, and that number is expected to keep growing — especially since Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division acquired the company in 2020. Townsley stepped down around that time, and McLeroy is now the chairman of the company.

Although Todd Graves opened Raising Cane's in Louisiana six years after the first Zaxby's opened in Georgia, there are parallels in the restaurant chains' origins. Graves was in college when he dreamed up Raising Cane's. "I actually wrote a business plan for Raising Cane's in a business planning class, and I actually got the worst grade in the class," Graves told Mashed in an exclusive interview. "[The] legend later was that it was an 'F' ... It wasn't that bad; The teacher gave it a B-minus. He was an easy grader."

Graves, like Zaxby's co-founder Zach McLeroy, had to find a way to come up with the money to open his first store. He worked as a boilermaker at an oil refinery and as a commercial fisherman in Alaska to raise the dough. When he finally had it, he opened his first location near another university, his alma mater: Louisiana State University. Now, there are over 700 Raising Cane's locations across the U.S. 

However, unlike Zaxby's, which has its sauces privately manufactured, Raising Cane's doesn't cut corners on its famous sauce. "It's made in-house every day, so that makes the difference. I think it's night and day difference [compared to] the pre-packaged peel off," Graves informed us. "I'll never compromise."