Elk Grove Raising Cane’s briefly closes as rodent sighting video makes social media rounds

A video of a rat scampering across a food case at an Elk Grove Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers restaurant is making the rounds on social media and has raised questions of food safety at the eatery.

The incident happened just before 1 a.m., July 20, a Raising Cane’s spokeswoman confirmed Friday. Employees immediately closed the restaurant at 9164 E. Stockton Blvd.

In the Instagram video taken as customers waited in line for their orders, a cashier shrieks as the rodent climbs to the top of a glass case containing prepared meals before it ducks out of view.

The cashier is heard shouting “I knew it, I knew it,” as customers react in surprise.

“We were horrified, but we jumped on it immediately,” Julia Doyle, Raising Cane’s director of public relations, said from her Plano, Texas offices. “Out of an abundance of caution, we brought in third-party evaluators — professional cleaners and sanitizers. The entire restaurant was scrubbed.”

The restaurant reopened the following afternoon, July 21, after Raising Cane’s officials contacted Sacramento County Public Health and brought in the cleaning crews, Doyle said.

Doyle said the late-night rodent sighting was not a sign of an infestation but may have caught a ride on a delivery truck or wandered in from nearby construction.

“This is not something we take lightly,” Doyle added.

The Elk Grove site, which opened in late February of this year, is part of a Sacramento-area expansion that began in late 2021 for the Baton Rouge-based fast-food chain.

Other Raising Cane’s Sacramento-area locations include Citrus Heights, Davis, Lodi and Roseville.