Has the Northern Half of Connecticut Emerged As Our Test Market?

Did you see that the first Raising Cane's Chicken Finger restaurant in Connecticut recently opened up for business in Enfield? I've also read that Simsbury is where the second Cane's will open up. Why Enfield and Simsbury? The Northern part of our state has emerged as Connecticut's test market.

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For years, I've thought that Bristol was the litmus test for new national fast food start ups in Connecticut, as New Haven, Hartford, Waterbury, Danbury, and Bridgeport are almost fully owned by the corporate fast food chains. Bristol has an international business in ESPN, which attracts wealthy employees from around the globe. A new business trying to crack into the Connecticut culinary scene used to open up a test market in Bristol, Danbury, New Haven, or even Waterbury. Now? I feel that corporate fast food is eyeing Enfield, Simsbury, South Windsor, and Manchester as better demographic snapshots of Connecticut.

I was at the Raising Cane's in Enfield last Friday morning, and I saw the aftermath of what the endless lines of drive-through traffic have done to that parking lot. Why are people lined up 30-40 cars deep? For chicken fingers? It's DIFFERENT chicken fingers, not from KFC, Popeye's, or Wing Stop. Do you think that a locally-owned coffee shop wants to set up their business within three miles of a Starbucks or Dunkin? Good luck trying to find that open space in Connecticut's major cities. Same goes for the national pizza chains that we've seen come and go within these borders.

Have you ever heard of Godfather's Pizza? They recently opened up their first location in Connecticut, Northern Connecticut, along I-84 in Ellington. Connecticut's new test markets will be in the Northern half of the state.