With one Jacksonville restaurant open and three in stages of development, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers is moving ahead on its proposed Mandarin location.
The city is reviewing a permit for horizontal work of a 1.05-acre site at 10989 San Jose Blvd. for a 3,294-square-foot restaurant with a dual drive-thru at the Mandarin Corners shopping center, which is anchored by Walmart Supercenter.
Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. is the civil engineer for the project, which is estimated at $2 million.
Raising Cane’s opened its first area location in July 2025 at 8308 Merchants Way in Oakleaf Station at southwest Argyle Forest Boulevard and Merchants Way in Southwest Jacksonville.
The other three are identified for Mandarin, Regency and Town Center.
The Mandarin location was shown in a JEA service availability determination letter and application June 27, 2025, as a Raising Cane’s at the site of a closed Pollo Tropical in Mandarin.
Jacksonville-based Retail Strategies LLC owns the site, where the 3,425-square-foot Pollo Tropical was built in 2011. Retail Strategies leased the property to Raising Cane’s Restaurants L.L.C. on an initial 20-year lease with renewal options, according to the Memorandum of Lease recorded Nov. 17, 2025, with the Duval County Clerk of Court.
It was the third closed Pollo Tropical identified for Raising Cane’s, although one has since been leased to Dave’s Hot Chicken.
Pollo Tropical closed those locations, its last three in Jacksonville, in February 2025.
In addition to the Mandarin site, Raising Cane’s has been working toward:
• A 2,868-square-foot, 95-seat, double-drive-thru restaurant at 4863 Gate Parkway in The Markets at Town Center where Pollo Tropical closed. The city issued a permit Jan. 14, 2026, for site work to convert the 3,438-square-foot restaurant on 0.9 acres at a project cost of $1.5 million. Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. of Jacksonville is the civil engineer. St. Johns 4863 LLC of Syracuse, New York, is the property owner. Raising Cane’s Restaurants L.L.C. of Plano, Texas, is the developer.
• JEA issued a service availability letter April 30 for a proposed 2,786-square-foot, 120-seat Raising Cane’s on 1.34 acres of the former Regency Square Mall property at 9501 Arlington Expressway that is slated for redevelopment. It would be on an outparcel at Arlington Expressway and Atlantic Boulevard.
The 30-year-old Raising Cane’s chain is based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Its menu comprises box combos of chicken fingers, fries, coleslaw, Cane’s Sauce, Texas toast and drinks. The sandwich combo comprises three fingers on a toasted bun.
As of May 2025, Raising Cane’s was working toward a 95-seat, double-drive-thru restaurant at 730 Skymarks Drive, a former Pollo Tropical in River City Marketplace in North Jacksonville, but it now is a site for Dave’s Hot Chicken.
Dave’s Hot Chicken franchisee Jesse Allen said Oct. 8, 2025, the lease was signed in June for the property at 730 Skymarks Drive in River City Marketplace.
The city issued a permit Dec. 4, 2025, for Dave’s Hot Chicken to renovate the closed Pollo Tropical restaurant at a project cost of $326,930. Hoffman Commercial Construction LLC of Jacksonville is the contractor.
JEA issued a service availability letter May 28, 2025, for Raising Cane’s there.
The existing 3,307-square-foot restaurant was built in 2012 on 1.24 acres.