Chicken chain Raising Cane's prepping to open first Long Island eateries next year after delays

Raising Cane’s Long Island debut has been delayed for a few years, but the chicken chain's plans to open three restaurants in the region next year are progressing.

The fast-growing Louisiana-based chain plans to open Long Island eateries in Commack, East Farmingdale and Carle Place.

"Commack is currently under construction, which started earlier this summer, but [East] Farmingdale and Carle Place are both in the permitting phase. Construction timing for those two will depend on when the permits are approved," a Raising Cane’s spokeswoman said in an email Monday.

Raising Cane’s 3,500-square-foot Commack restaurant is being built on the former site of a McDonald’s restaurant at 2 Vanderbilt Pkwy. The new drive-thru restaurant, which will have 45 indoor seats and 17 outdoor seats, is expected to open early next year, Raising Cane’s said.

In August 2024, Raising Cane’s Restaurants LLC submitted its initial plans to the Town of Smithtown’s building department seeking approval to demolish the McDonald’s and replace it with a Raising Cane’s building. The town board approved the plans in December.

The chicken chain’s East Farmingdale restaurant would be built on the site of a former Houlihan’s restaurant, which closed in January. Raising Cane’s wants to demolish the vacant building, at 923 Broadhollow Rd. in Republic Plaza, and replace it with a 4,054-square-foot, double-drive-thru restaurant with 72 indoor and 15 outdoor seats.

The East Farmingdale is on track to open early next summer, the Raising Cane’s spokeswoman said.

A site plan application for the East Farmingdale restaurant was submitted to the Town of Babylon in July 2025, and construction plans were filed this July, town spokesman Ryan Bonner said in an email Tuesday.

The planning board approved the site plan this March.

The building permit issuance is still pending, Bonner said, adding that the town is waiting on approvals from the New York State Department of Transportation and a statement of third-party inspections.

In Carle Place, Raising Cane’s would be part of a multibuilding development planned at the former site of the Chateau Briand Caterers event venue at 440 Old Country Rd. Chateau Briand’s 21,300-square-foot building was demolished in 2024.

In March 2024, Woodbury-based Scotto Brothers Inc., which owns the approximately 5½-acre site through affiliate companies, submitted a redevelopment plan to the Town of North Hempstead that included constructing a 2,804-square-foot Raising Cane’s; a 3,015-square-foot bank with a drive-thru; and a two-story, 35,558-square-foot retail building with space for six tenants, according to documents filed with the town building department.

The two-story retail building would be attached to an existing DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse store at 357 Old Country Rd.

In June 2025, North Hempstead’s town board approved the site plan for the Raising Cane’s planned for Carle Place. But the proposed construction of the chicken restaurant, bank and retail building are still in plan review by the town, Scott Koehler, a plans examiner for the town, said in an email.

The Carle Place eatery is slated to open in midsummer 2027, the Raising Cane’s spokeswoman said.

Breaking into new markets

Founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1996, Raising Cane’s is a fast-casual chain with a streamlined menu — chicken fingers and chicken finger sandwiches, plus a few sides.

The chain has more than 1,000 restaurants in 40 states, including 118 that opened in 2024 and about 85 that opened last year. The chain is opening nearly 100 new restaurants this year.

The company’s growth strategy in recent years has included entering new markets, including in New York, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Michigan, Wisconsin and New Hampshire.

Upcoming market entries will include upstate New York, Maine, South Dakota, North Dakota and the United Kingdom, the Raising Cane’s spokeswoman said.

Raising Cane’s opened its first New York restaurant in 2023, in Times Square, and now has 14 eateries in New York City.

In 2023, Newsday reported that Raising Cane’s planned to enter the Long Island market in 2025 with four restaurants — in Carle Place, Commack, East Meadow and Hauppauge.

Then, in May 2024, Raising Cane’s said it had canceled its plans for three of those locations — Commack, East Meadow and Hauppauge. It also said it was delaying its Long Island entrance to 2026, when it would open two restaurants, in Bay Shore and Carle Place.

In March 2025, Raising Cane’s said it had nixed plans for a Bay Shore eatery, while intending to open three Long Island restaurants — in Commack late this year, and in East Farmingdale and Carle Place early next year.

The chicken chain is still on track to open those three eateries, but the pushed-back openings — Commack to early next year, East Farmingdale to early next summer and Carle Place to midsummer — are "due to miscellaneous construction delays," the Raising Cane’s spokeswoman said.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.