San Antonio is getting its first taste of Layne's Chicken Fingers. The Frisco-based chain is set to open its debut city location at 7249 Bandera Road on Tuesday, with a second restaurant already under construction and a third in the planning stages on the city's west side.
According to the San Antonio Express-News, a second Layne's is already under construction on Southwest Military Drive, and plans were filed for a third location along Marbach Road on the city's west side on October 16. That Marbach Road project is valued at $1.45 million, per the Express-News, with a separate report from CultureMap San Antonio pegging the proposed restaurant at the intersection of 1604 Loop South and Marbach Road at 2,430 square feet.
Construction on that Marbach Road site is scheduled to begin in late November and wrap up by the end of April 2027, the station notes. A billboard spotted by CultureMap also advertises a separate Layne's planned for the intersection of Bandera and Guilbeau roads, though the chain has not confirmed every advertised site will open on schedule.
A Franchise Deal Fueling Rapid Growth
The San Antonio push traces back to a major franchising agreement Layne's signed in November 2025 with real estate and restaurant developer Eli Cohen, bringing 44 units to San Antonio, West Texas and the Coastal Bend, per the same CultureMap report. Cohen, who is developing the new locations through C5 Restaurants, said San Antonio is expected to be one of the top Layne's markets in the country and that the chain is committed to long-term growth in the city, according to the Express-News.
Cohen also pointed to the pace of development around the Marbach corridor, saying the west side around Marbach is growing quickly, with families, new rooftops and new retail arriving, per the Express-News. C5 Restaurants' reach extends beyond San Antonio — the San Antonio Current reports that the partnership will also open new Layne's locations in West Texas and the Coastal Bend. A separate Layne's restaurant is planned along State Highway 46 in Seguin, according to a TDLR filing cited by KSAT.
A Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation project record tied to the chain's expansion lists the project at 1510 TX-46 North, with an estimated completion date of May 8, 2026.
From College Station Upstart to Statewide Chain
Layne's Chicken Fingers was founded in College Station in 1994 by entrepreneur Mike Layne, per the Express-News, and has since expanded to more than 50 restaurants across Texas. The fast-casual menu centers on chicken tenders served with crinkle-cut fries, a signature peppery sauce and a drink, alongside chicken sandwiches, grilled cheese, a grilled chicken wrap and shakes.
The chain's growth has accelerated this year. It reached its 50-restaurant milestone during the second quarter of 2026 and awarded two dozen new franchise deals in the first half of the year, according to QSR Web. Among those deals: a 12-unit development agreement in California with tenured IHOP operators and a 30-unit agreement in Oklahoma with existing franchisee Taylor Thomas, who told the outlet, “Layne's has 51 units open right now.”
That figure differs from other published counts. The San Antonio Current has reported the chain has more than 30 locations, including several outside Texas, with another dozen in the works, while a San Antonio Business Journal report put the number of units in development at an estimated 225. The discrepancies may stem from different reporting dates or definitions of what counts as open versus in development. CultureMap also notes Layne's already has locations spread across Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Entering Raising Cane's Home Turf
Layne's arrival in San Antonio puts it on a collision course with Raising Cane's, the Louisiana-based chicken-finger chain that first opened in Baton Rouge in 1996 — two years after Layne's debuted in College Station. Both chains have been described as rivals making major investments across Texas, according to a low-confidence account from MySanAntonio, though specific location counts and investment figures for Raising Cane's were not independently verified.
For now, San Antonio diners can judge the matchup for themselves once the Bandera Road location opens Tuesday, with two more Layne's restaurants in the pipeline: one on Southwest Military Drive and another along Marbach Road on the city's west side.
