Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers®, one of the fastest-growing restaurant chains in the U.S., has promoted Ian Vaughn to chief operating officer.

Most recently, Vaughn served as senior vice president of operations, overseeing both corporate-owned locations as well as supporting a growing franchise network for Raising Cane’s. Vaughn has also won several operator awards including Nation’s Restaurant News “50 GMs Orchestrating Success” in 2005.

Under Vaughn’s leadership, Raising Cane’s was named Restaurant Hospitality’s “Top 10 Growth Chains for 2008;” ranking second on Restaurant Business “Future’s Top 50 List;” placing second in the country in the Sandelman & Associates’ Quick-Track Customer Satisfaction study; winning Nation’s Restaurant News 2003 “Hot Concepts Award;” and being listed among the “Top 100 Movers and Shakers” in Fast Casual magazine. The restaurant was also voted “Best New Restaurant” in Houston by the readers of the Houston Business Journal.

Vaughn started his career with Raising Cane’s more than seven years ago as a shift manager in Baton Rouge. He was promoted to general manager and soon became the first official “training GM” for the restaurant chain. Vaughn even proposed to his wife at the opening of his restaurant where he was GM. Vaughn was later named the director of new store openings, where he successfully opened 28 new Raising Cane’s locations across the country. He then assumed the role of senior director of company restaurant operations before being appointed to senior vice president of operations.