Campustown offers a variety of foods and flavors for students to enjoy. Soon, a new restaurant chain will make its way to C-U— two Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers locations.

The first, located at 411 E. Green St. in Champaign, is set to open on Feb. 28, according to Jason Zwerin, vice president of company restaurants for Raising Cane’s. In addition to this location, Zwerin said a second location will be opening in late June, located at 2121 N. Prospect Ave., a former Applebee’s location.

Zwerin said the Green Street location will be focused on traditional dining, while the Prospect Avenue location will feature a drive-thru.

The Green Street location has been in development for “about two years,” according to Zwerin. “It’s been a little while coming, but man, we are almost there.”

Zwerin explained the reasoning behind choosing Champaign as the location for these restaurants.

“Every day through our social media platform, we’re constantly asking, ‘Where should we open next?’ … Champaign is one of those places that consistently comes up,” Zwerin said. “So, we’re excited to be there in that community. A lot of people have been asking for this for a long time.”

Zwerin elaborated, saying that historically, the restaurant chain has had “a lot of success” with college communities.

Zwerin added Champaign seemed like a good place to have two locations.

“When we look at Champaign and we look at the amount of opportunities there, two restaurants for us right now is something that we feel is a great idea and we can get in there and do that,” Zwerin said. “So instead of having one there that’s going to generate 100+ jobs, having a second restaurant there and being able to serve more customers and being able to provide more jobs in that community is something we feel really good about.”

Zwerin said the hiring process at the Green Street location has already begun, and they’re “looking for about 100 crew members at each location.”

“I have no doubt that students are excited,” Zwerin said. “We’ll see them turnout in hundreds for opening day and opening week, and it’s just been great, the excitement around it and (people) wanting to be the first to go in there. And, for us, we’ve just had a ton of success being by universities and being able to be a part of that community. So I think it’s gonna be a huge win-win.”

Zwerin said that Raising Cane’s wants to give students on campus what they want.

“We’ve heard that Champaign is wanting and craving Cane’s,” Zwerin said. “So we’re going to go in and be able to do what we do best and serve hot, fresh chicken finger meals to the community.”

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