Raising Cane’s, the American chicken fingers chain that has overtaken KFC to become the third-largest chicken restaurant business in the United States, has confirmed its first UK restaurant will open in Piccadilly Circus in late 2026. The London flagship will be company-operated rather than franchised, with several further sites already planned across the capital.
Founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1996 by Todd Graves, Raising Cane’s has grown to more than 900 restaurants in the United States on a menu limited to chicken fingers, crinkle-cut fries, coleslaw, Texas toast and its Cane’s Sauce. The chain has expanded almost entirely through restaurants it owns and runs itself rather than through franchising, a structure it is carrying into its first market outside North America. London becomes its first restaurant in Europe, ahead of a separate development agreement covering Mexico with the operator Alsea.
Piccadilly Circus site takes over former Angus Steakhouse building
The flagship restaurant will occupy 21-22 Coventry Street, on the corner of Piccadilly Circus, in a building that traded as an Angus Steakhouse until its closure in 2021. Cane’s branding has already gone up on the shopfront and the company has started recruiting UK staff ahead of opening. Raising Cane’s has given no date beyond “late 2026”, though a firmer announcement is expected within weeks or months. The company has appointed a UK president and is setting up a support office in London to oversee the restaurant and the openings that follow it.
Not a franchise: London restaurants will be company-owned
Unlike several US chains that entered the UK through a franchise partner, such as Pret’s regional territory operators or KFC UK, where around 95% of restaurants are franchised, Raising Cane’s has said its UK restaurants will be run directly by the company rather than through franchise partners. No franchise recruitment page has been published for the UK, and no franchise fee or territory structure has been announced. That leaves no route, at this stage of the rollout, for an independent operator to apply to run a Raising Cane’s site in Britain.
Good to know
Search interest in a “Raising Cane’s franchise” is already high in the UK, but no franchise offer exists here for now. The brand’s UK restaurants are company-operated, the same structure it uses for most of its US estate. Readers looking at what is currently on offer can browse UK fast food franchise opportunities.
Further London sites and a drive-thru format planned
Beyond the Piccadilly Circus flagship, Raising Cane’s has named four further London areas as targets for its next restaurants: the Strand, Oxford Circus, Paddington and South Bank. The company has also said it plans drive-thru restaurants across Greater London, a format that makes up a large share of its US estate. Todd Graves has said the chain receives “more requests to come to the UK than anywhere else in the world”, a demand signal the company has pointed to in explaining why London, rather than another European capital, became its first market outside North America. The move fits a wider pattern of international restaurant brands opening in the UK this year.
What happens next
An exact opening date for the Piccadilly Circus restaurant has not been announced, and Raising Cane’s has not said how many London restaurants it expects to operate once the initial rollout is complete. The chain’s approach mirrors its US growth, where it has relied on ownership rather than franchising to control site selection, service standards and its single-item menu. Whether that model changes at some point, as it has begun to test in Mexico through a development agreement with Alsea, is not something the company has addressed for the UK.
