Case Study: Raising Cane’s achieves a 30K increase in employee engagement with Firstup

A Motivated And Satisfied Crew Makes Raising Cane’s Unstoppable

Raising Cane’s, the fast-casual chain known for its ONE LOVE® chicken finger meals and more than 560 locations, faced the challenge of keeping a largely young frontline workforce (core ages 16–22) connected, motivated and service-focused during rapid growth and the disconnection of the COVID-19 pandemic. With 35,000+ Crewmembers across hundreds of restaurants, the company needed a way to preserve its culture, share training and safety information, and sustain engagement.

The solution was 1LV Crew, a mobile-first engagement platform built with Firstup that lets leaders post short videos, employees share tips and memes, and teams give real-time feedback. Launched in October 2020, the platform saw rapid adoption—more than 90,000 comments in the first eight months, over 1,000 member posts per month and a reported 30K lift in engagement—while helping the company avoid layoffs, coordinate community relief (raising $360K+ from a neck-gaiter fundraiser and nearly $500K donated to healthcare), and earn recognition for safety and customer experience.

Raising Cane’s

Todd Roby

Senior Director of Communications