TR Robertson

TR Robertson — Vista CA The mood and atmosphere was filled with anticipation, excitement and a bit of relief as the newest restaurant to open in Vista, Raising Cane’s, was about to open to the general public after the celebratory Vista Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting ceremony. A large gathering of Cane’s employees, managers, corporate employees, Vista dignitaries, representatives from a multitude of businesses and organizations, the press and interested citizens began to gather out front of the restaurant. Along with this, a line began to build along the side of Cane’s, next to the drive thru, of people wanting to be first to enter the restaurant and purchase some of the delicious chicken fingers.

The festivities began with Cheryl Reed, from Cane’s, thanking everyone for being at the ribbon cutting, introducing many of the Cane’s corporate people in attendance, speaking a little about the process to bring Cane’s to Vista and telling a little about the story of the Cane’s founder, Todd Graves. Go to last week’s article about Raising Cane’s to read about the history of this restaurant. Cheryl introduced Ruthann, who would lead the 120+ employees in attendance in the One Love warm-up cheer. The One Love concept was established by Graves to emphasize the fact that this company does one thing really, really well – make great chicken fingers. It also symbolizes the company’s willingness to help and assist a number of agencies and organizations. Ruthann then presented a Spirit Award to Daniel for his outstanding work ethic during the three day training period.

Photos by TR Robertson

Next up was Vista Chamber CEO, Bret Schanzenbach, who would welcome the restaurant to Vista. Bret introduced Vista Mayor Judy Ritter, who also expressed the cities thanks for choosing Vista as the North County city to establish a Raising Cane’s. Sheryl Hodges, from the State Board of Equalization, welcomed Cane’s, followed by Kristen Roberts, from Cane’s Property Development Division, who pointed out the hard work of the NRO Cane’s team, responsible for fine tuning the restaurant for the opening and training the staff. Kristen brought up four young men, who had spoken to a variety of city governmental agencies, including the city council, speaking about Cane’s and why this restaurant would be good for the city. Chris, Gabriel, Max and William, all Vista residents and Palomar Jr. College students, would travel to Laguna Beach after football games to eat at the Cane’s restaurant located there. Kristen and Vista General Manager Tony Jaremczuk presented the young men with gift baskets for their hard work. William was also hired by Cane’s as an employee.

Tony spoke about his excitement of becoming a Raising Cane’s General Manager. He was presented with a white hard hat, which will be signed by his crew, and a cricket, a Chinese symbolic reference for good luck. The original Cane’s in Baton Rouge initially had a mild cricket problem, but it was pointed out that that was a sign of good fortune. Next up was the ribbon cutting ceremony with hundreds of people positioned around the large Cane’s One Love sign. Those involved with the ribbon cutting and invited guests were then invited in for a chicken finger lunch, followed by the employees forming a welcome tunnel inside the restaurant to welcome in the waiting patrons who would be buying their first meals at Cane’s.

Some notable people should be mentioned including Adam and Victoria, Los Angeles residents who have attended 6 cane’s openings and drove down for the Vista opening. The first paid customers at the counter were Cody from San Marcos and Mark from Oceanside, picture in the slide show. Mark had eaten at the Cane’s in Santee.

With the hoopla and fanfare done, Raising Cane’s is officially open for business in Vista. They open at 9 am each day and stay open until 1 am on weekdays – Mon. thru Thurs., and until 3:30 on Fri.-Sat.-Sundays. I stopped back in to the Vista Cane’s around 1:30 pm that afternoon and found the restaurant packed and around fifteen cars in line for the drive-thru. This popular restaurant is now officially a part of the Vista business community.

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