New Raising Cane’s restaurant opens in Hamilton

Located on 1479 Main St. in Hamilton, a new Raising Cane’s opened over the summer to the delight and the curiosity of Miami University students.

In an email written to The Miami Student, General Manager Bryan Connolly, the chicken finger restaurant officially opened its doors on June 29, and has already seen waves of Miami students come to eat at the restaurant.

“We’ve seen a fair number of RedHawks make their way through the doors,” Connolly wrote. “It has been great to see the students enjoying our chicken finger meals.”

The Hamilton Cane’s marks the 13th restaurant to open in the southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky area – none, however, are within 10 miles of Oxford. The Hamilton location is about a 20 minute drive from campus, 10 minutes less than Cane’s next closest location in Colerain.

Senior accountancy major Vathsa Yarramsetty said he loved to eat at Cane’s in his Columbus-area hometown and was excited to see one open up closer to Oxford.

“I saw the restaurant in Hamilton on my drive back to Miami from home,” Yarramsetty said. “It’s a bit of a drive, about 20 minutes or so, but I’ll probably end up going sometime soon – it’s too good not to.”

Other students, such as junior biology and pre-medical studies double major Zach Dyer, felt the location was too far away from Oxford and wondered why a closer location to Miami University’s campus wasn’t chosen instead.

“I love Cane’s, but it’s a 40-minute drive roundtrip, not really ideal,” Dyer said. “I still can’t believe that we don’t have one up here in Oxford, I feel like they would really make a killing because there’s really not any sort of fried-chicken place up here. There’s not any Popeyes, any KFC, any Chick-fil-A, nothing.”

Sophomore marketing and strategic communication double major Gibson Pope shared similar sentiments.

“I don’t mind going to make a trip with some friends on a weekend or something, but I think you’d obviously rather have one in Oxford that you could walk to,” Pope said. “It’s just annoying to have to make the hike to go get it.”

When asked if Connolly had heard any plans to open a store in Oxford, he wrote that he hoped the 20-minute drive would not be too big of a hurdle for Miami students to drive to.

“We’re always looking for communities to grow our brand in,” Connolly wrote. “In the meantime, we hope that the Miami students and Oxford community will make the trip down to dine with us.”