Guthrie’s has lifted its first finger in Idaho.
Beating coveted chain Raising Cane’s to the punch, Alabama-based Guthrie’s opened the Gem State’s first chicken tender-specialized restaurant Jan. 26 in Meridian.
Located in a newly constructed building with a drive-thru at 1840 W. Chinden Blvd., Guthrie’s is an unknown commodity to most Idahoans. The “golden fried chicken fingers” sign outside will help educate.
If you peruse the handful of reviews online so far, you’ll see that customers who have visited already are comparing it to Raising Cane’s.
That’s typical, acknowledged Guthrie’s restaurant co-owner Ronnie Boyles, sitting in a booth at the Meridian store. A resident of Atlanta, Georgia, Boyles is visiting to help expand Guthrie’s regional footprint.
“We’re basing our West Coast office in Boise,” he says. At least 100 additional locations could open in Western states within the next several years, Boyles says. Guthrie’s restaurants in Boise and Nampa are coming soon.
Guthrie’s was founded in 1965 — decades before Louisiana-based Raising Cane’s. It’s “the OG in chicken fingers,” as QSR magazine puts it . The food at Guthrie’s, Boyles says with a smile, has been “often imitated, but never duplicated.”