Stonestown Galleria has scored another win that is all but guaranteed to draw crowds, and that's a Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers location, the first to arrive in San Francisco.

Raising Cane's made headlines when it arrived in Oakland in 2022, drawing hundreds of people to line up on its first day. The Louisiana-founded chain now has five Bay Area locations, including one in Colma that opened in late 2024.

A plan for a Berkeley shop fell through in 2022, but the chain has since purchased a former Subway property next to the UC campus at Bancroft and Telegraph avenues, with plans to open there in "the next few years."

But now, the popular chicken-finger chain — there is a fried chicken sandwich on the menu, but primarily it's just chicken fingers — is set to debut in San Francisco for the first time. The SF Business Times caught the permit activity at the former McDonald's at the Stonestown Galleria (255 Winston Drive), which closed last June after over 30 years at that location.

We don't have any information about a timeline for the Stonestown location, and the mall operator, Brookfield Properties, would not comment to the Business Times.

We can assume that this opening is probably some number of months away, but stay tuned.

Raising Cane's menu is simple and to-the-point, offering combo meals with three, four, and six chicken fingers, along with Cane's Sauce, crinkle-cut fries, coleslaw, and Texas toast. In addition to the chicken sandwich, they also sell "tailgate" boxes of chicken fingers in 25-finger increments.

The company, which was founded in Baton Rouge in 1996 and uses the catchphrase ONE LOVE in its marketing, has been in major expansion mode nationwide for several years. In a January announcement, Raising Cane's said it had exceeded its goal to open 100 new locations in 2024, opening a total of 118, with 17 in December alone.

"We couldn’t be more proud of our Crew for making this record-breaking year of growth a reality, and we can’t wait to continue spreading our ONE LOVE to new places in 2025!" they said.

The largest share of Raising Cane's locations is in Texas, which has 199 of the company's 800+ stores.

The company's website lists among its upcoming openings a San Jose location opening April 1 at 2398 Evergreen Place.