Chicken, Chicken, Chicken! Which Combo You Pickin', 3rd Street?

Todd Graves and Jay Ducote at the new Downtown Baton Rouge Cane's

I had a great time on May 22nd at the Grand Opening for the first ever Raising Cane's in downtown Baton Rouge! There were tons of people lined up around the block to celebrate another great happening for Red Stick's downtown development. Todd Graves and Raising Cane's have done so much for the Baton Rouge community so I welcomed the opportunity to help them break in the new fryers. The staff and eager customers gathered outside of Cane's for the ceremony complete with a proclamation and ribbon cutting. As the doors opened in the late morning sun, folks gathered over chicken fingers, fries, toast, slaw, sweet tea, lemonade, and of course that ever famous Cane's Sauce.

Not only did I attend the ceremony, but Raising Cane's actually invited me to film the events of the day with TommysTV. We had a blast talking to the likes of Mayor Kip Holden, Todd Graves, and even Cane herself! Check it out:

South Louisiana Lemonade Day

May 7th will be here before you know it, and that means South Louisiana (and other regions/cities around the country) will participate in Lemonade Day!  Bite and Booze has teamed up with Tommy's TV to get on board as an official "Media Partner" with South Louisiana's Lemonade Day!  I'm extremely excited about the opportunity to support such a great cause.  So excited, in fact, that I thought I'd share it with you!  I'd love to see some of you get involved too, especially those of you with kids out there that are ready to learn a little entrepreneurial spirit!

I recently met up with Todd Graves (Founder, CEO, and Fry Cook at Raising Cane's) and East Baton Rouge Parish's Mayor-President Kip Holden to get a little more information on South Louisiana's Lemonade Day!

Here are the main points that they wanted for me to help get out to my readers:

• Lemonade Day is open to kids of all ages
• Each child needs a Caring Adult that will help guide them through the process
• The Caring Adult can register the child at LemonadeDay.org
• Once you’ve registered online, backpacks will be available beginning this week at all  Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Greater New Orleans Raising Cane’s restaurants, MAPP Construction in Baton Rouge, Junior Achievement in NOLA, the Louisiana Children's Museum in NOLA, and Veteran's Ford in Metarie
• The backpacks include an Entrepreneur Workbook that guides the “Lemonaders” through Setting Goals, Finding Investors, Site Selection, Building a Stand, and Running a Business
• The Lemonaders are encouraged to Save a third, Spend a third, and donate a third to their favorite charity.
• Teacher’s guide and worksheets are available at LemonadeDay.org

If you're interested in learning more, here is a little bit about Lemonade Day:

What is Lemonade Day?

Lemonade Day is a nation-wide event that teaches kids the skills they need to be successful in life. Kids learn to set goals, develop a business plan, establish a budget, seek investors, provide customer service, save for the future, and give back to the community. Lemonade Day is the perfect opportunity for a community to show kids they care and train the next generation of entrepreneurs through a free, fun, engaging, and empowering activity. Last year Lemonade Day impacted more than 50,000 children nationwide. This will be South Louisiana's inaugural year, and we hope to reach as many as 5,000 children in the Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Lafayette areas.

How did it start?

Michael Holthouse, a Houston entrepreneur and philanthropist, founded Prepared 4 Life (P4L), a nonprofit that provides fun, proactive, and experiential programs infused with life skill, character education, and entrepreneurship. Inspired by the lessons he was able to teach his young daughter and her friend when they set up a lemonade stand, Holthouse launched Lemonade Day in Houston, Texas in 2007 as a community-wide, educational initiative, which has now become P4L’s number one outreach and educational priority.

When is it?

Lemonade Day will take place on Saturday, May 7th, 2011.

Who can participate?

Youth of all ages, can register to set up an official Lemonade Day stand. Kids must register with a caring adult so there are lots of opportunities for mentors and volunteers. In addition, community support from schools, youth organizations, and local businesses is essential to the success of Lemonade Day.

How does it work?

Once a child is registered they will receive a backpack with an informational workbook that outlines the steps needed to start a business: from setting a goal, creating a business plan, forming a budget, finding an investor, to saving money, and donating a portion back to the community (The children get to choose which charity to which they would like to donate a portion of their proceeds).

How can I get involved?

Everyone is welcome to be involved with Lemonade Day. We need mentors, investors, employees, and custom­ers to support participants! Sponsors and volunteers are also needed to make Lemonade Day a success! All money raised through local donations and sponsorships is used directly to support Lemonade Day in South Louisiana.

Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers Grand Opening - Store #94

Last Thursday, on Veteran's Day, I had the privilege of attending the grand opening ceremonies for the 94th Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers restaurant.  The event occurred at 8899 Florida Blvd., marking the 18th Raising Cane's in the Greater Baton Rouge area.  The kickoff event for the restaurant included a Veteran's Day tribute complete with the LSU Pershing Rifles, multiple Cane's crew member Veterans, and country music recording artist David St. Romain, a Veteran himself, singing the National Anthem.

Also in attendance were Raising Cane's Founder, CEO, Fry Cook, and Cashier Todd Graves, Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden, the Broadmoor High School cheerleaders, and the best fast-food mascot around, Raising Cane II!  Raising Cane's also presented a $1,000 check to the American Cancer Society and donated 15% of all proceeds from the day to the American Legion.  I teamed up with TOMMYStv to capture the ribbon cutting and grand opening on video.  Enjoy, and eat some chicken fingers!

Oh, and one more thing.  My friends at Raising Cane's left me with this gift basket to give away to a lucky reader of Bite and Booze!  Just post a comment below telling me how you order at Cane's.  For example, I go for the #1 Box Combo no slaw extra toast, as seen in the above video.  Also, make sure I know how to get in touch with you.  One winner will be chosen at random.  You have until the end of November to enter so I can get this puppy to somebody's home for the Holidays.  What is your One Love?