Zaxbys takes a 12-sauce challenge to Raising Cane’s

Zaxbys has passed 1,000 units and generated more than $2.8 billion in sales, giving the fast-casual chain enough scale to pick a fight over sauce in Manhattan. Earlier this week, it installed The Zax Machine beside Raising Cane’s Astor Place restaurant, dispensing 12 signature sauces near a competitor built around one signature sauce.

Outside honey mustard and ketchup, Raising Cane’s has just one sauce, Cane’s Sauce, anchoring a focused menu. Zaxbys says the move addresses a gap that had left the city’s chicken chains “seriously lacking” the sauce. The installation turns a 12-sauce lineup into a visible sales and promotion format rather than simply another item on the menu.

The broader shift is visible across fast-casual dining: what began as a chicken sandwich fight has increasingly become a sauce fight, with concepts revising their sauce lineups to meet consumer demand.

What does the sauce battle change for operators?

Zaxbys is coupling the machine with a weeklong social promotion. Codes on @realzaxbys offer rewards on chicken items and sauces throughout the week, while supplies last.

The campaign gives Zax Rewards members a way to try the range and pair sauces with chicken, building on a product strategy that began last year with “Who’s Got the Sauce?” Internal research had found that consumers gravitated strongly toward Zaxbys’ 12 sauces.

Chief Marketing Officer Patrick Schwing said: “There’s plenty of great chicken spots out there, but sadly, most are missing the sauce.” He said Zaxbys is “proud to go far beyond the norm” with its 12-sauce lineup, while the promotion gives members “the opportunity to try out their favorite sauces with exclusive offers for a limited time” so they can “find their winning combination.”

Schwing had explained the strategy in an interview last year: “We want to exaggerate sauces so we can stand out.” Diners who want chicken tenders and sauce in a “monolithic way” have other options, he noted, but “We see our guests taking two sauces and making their own concoction,” which he called “part of the Zaxbys’ experience.”

That product strategy now arrives alongside a physical expansion. Zaxbys made its New York City debut in July with locations in the Bronx and Manhattan, marking its 24th state, and targets 60 new restaurant openings this year. CEO Bernard Acoca called the entry an “exciting milestone” and called the city “one of the most influential food cities in the world.”

Zaxbys’ scale has been rising. The chain surpassed 1,000 units earlier this year after increasing its unit count 3.7% and sales 5.2% in 2025. Technomic places it in the top 35 of chain restaurants, with more than $2.8 billion in sales.

Raising Cane’s provides the sales-heavy backdrop. It first opened in New York City in June 2023 with a flagship in Times Square and remains focused on Cane’s Sauce. The chain has been on a multiyear growth tear, according to Technomic, with 2025 unit growth of 10.3% year over year and sales growth of 10.6%.

It now has approximately 990 U.S. locations, ranks in the top 16 and exceeds $5.5 billion in sales. On the figures provided, Cane’s has fewer reported U.S. units than Zaxbys but a much larger sales base. The disclosures do not separate company-operated from franchised restaurants or show margins, food-and-labor costs or check averages, so they indicate scale rather than store-level profitability.

Technomic’s wider Top 500 finding adds context: chain restaurant sales slowed again in 2025 as consumers trimmed dining, even as coffee, beverages and snacks, and chicken thrived. In that setting, the contest is menu engineering and merchandising, not merely flavor: Zaxbys gives shoppers 12 sauces and links rewards to both chicken items and sauces, while Cane’s concentrates its offer around Cane’s Sauce.

Neither the machine campaign nor the sales figures disclose offer values, check averages or promotion costs, leaving the return unmeasured. For diners, the immediate change is access to 12 sauces near a Raising Cane’s competitor; for Zaxbys, the test is whether a week of machine use and rewards produces repeat chicken-and-sauce orders while the chain works toward 60 openings. The promotion is limited-time. The expansion target is not.