ONTARIO — There are at least 10 cities in the United States named “Ontario,” and one Canadian province. Therefore, when discussing the city of Ontario on the internet, it is vitally important to confirm which “Ontario” one is referring to.
This was the fatal flaw of the Raising Cane’s Facebook page on Monday, when an 11-year-old post started gaining more recent traction:
In response to many comments inquiring about an Ontario location, the page initially confirmed that a restaurant was in the works to arrive in Ontario in the near future:
However, hopes were quickly dashed when Mansfielder Cory Harper inquired further, and the page corrected itself that the upcoming location was actually in Ontario, California:
This did not stop the news from spreading on Facebook like wildfire on Monday.
One post from an Ontario resident reached nearly 600 shares before it was deleted. Another from a Lexington resident stated that paperwork had been signed, but the poster told Richland Source she could not reveal her source due to her job. That post is now also deleted.
On the Raising Cane’s website, upcoming locations that are opening this year include everywhere from Indiana to Arizona, Virginia and Texas. Sadly, Ohio is not on the list.
The website also is not advertising for any jobs in Ontario, Ohio in the near future, and the Richland County auditor’s website has no record of Raising Cane’s owning any property in Ontario.
However, Ontario Mayor Randy Hutchinson still had hope that a Raising Cane’s could someday come to Richland County, noting he’d had conversations with the popular chicken restaurant in the past.
Hutchinson said the city’s zoning department had not been contacted by Raising Cane’s, and he personally did not receive any calls about the restaurant either. But that doesn’t mean talks of creating a location in Ontario, Ohio aren’t in the works.
“As far as the city’s standpoint, we can’t confirm or deny until we see plans or we’re contacted by the business,” he said. “Once it gets to us, it’s public information, but we can’t announce something until we know for sure.”
In the meantime, there are still 52 Raising Cane’s locations in the state of Ohio. The closest locations can be found in Akron, Strongsville and Delaware. My go-to order: A 3 Finger Combo with an extra Cane’s sauce and a sweet tea.
And remember the advice of my parents when they first allowed me to create an AOL account in 1999: Don’t believe everything you hear on the internet.
Editor’s Note: This story has been corrected to clarify that Raising Cane’s would be building a new restaurant in California, not Canada.
What’s the chances that another “Ontario” has a Lexington Springmill road, as it’s listed on the job description. Also, when you search for jobs in Ohio, those are 2 that show up. General, and assistant manager for Ontario. On Lexington springmill road.
This story didn’t age well
😂 to be fair, we said “not yet.” We didn’t say never.
seems TGI Fridays would be a likely location since the building was sold in Jan.