Raising Cane's To Replace Diamand's In Joliet: Exclusive

JOLIET, IL — Less than a month after Joliet's new Chick-fil-A opened on Plainfield Road near the Louis Joliet Mall, Raising Cane's is moving ahead with plans to build its own restaurant a couple blocks up the road, Joliet Patch has learned.

Raising Cane's intends to demolish the old Diamand's Family Restaurant that closed last March amid the pandemic after being a Joliet mainstay for 31 years.

"They have a contract to buy up the old Diamand's," city of Joliet economic development director Derek Conley said. "They're planning on tearing that building down and putting up a new Raising Cane's."

Joliet Patch broke the news last August that the Diamand's property was being advertised on a Chicago real estate website.

Conley said that Raising Cane's wants to move ahead with its Joliet expansion in quick fashion.

"They are hoping to start construction this spring and get it open later in 2021," Conley said. "I think it will be a great location. I think they will be very successful."

Raising Cane's has been a rapidly expanding fast-food franchise. Raising Cane's has a simple menu: practically every meal option involves chicken fingers.

Oh, there is a sandwich on the menu, but don't let that fool you. It's three chicken tenders on a toasted bun, plus lettuce and their popular Cane's sauce.

The Raising Cane's website notes it just opened new restaurants on Route 34 in Oswego as well as in Tempe, Arizona; Bakersfield, California; Phoenix, Arizona; and Longmont, Colorado.

The website proclaims that additional Raising Cane's are coming soon to Springfield, Ohio; Yuma, Arizona; Torrance, California, Kapolei, Hawaii; Denver, Colorado; and on North Clark Street in Chicago.

In the Chicago area, there are Raising Cane's restaurants in: Evergreen Park, Glen Ellyn, Riverside, Morton Grove, Oak Lawn, Batavia, Westmont, DeKalb and Harwood Heights. Aside from Oswego, the next closest restaurant to Joliet is on Route 59 in Naperville.

The company's website includes the following humorous tidbit from Raising Cane's founder Todd Graves: "I got the worst grade on my business plan for a college class. The professor said a chicken finger restaurant would never work. The banks said the same."

The Raising Cane's drive-thru permit application is expected to go before Joliet's public service commission and the Joliet City Council on Feb. 16, Conley said.

"The drive-thru is very important for them, especially given COVID, but they will have an indoor dining option also," Conley said.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, "I think drive-thrus are going to be very important for many fast-food and fast-casual businesses," Conley added.

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