TikTok sensation: DeKalb’s Raising Cane’s bathroom door raises decibels

DeKALB – The Raising Cane’s in DeKalb, a restaurant chain popular for its quick-service chicken fingers, garnered national notoriety this summer for an ear-splitting stall door in the men’s bathroom.

The metal bathroom stall door entered the realm of meme lore after a social media user, graemenesbit, posted a TikTok video of the door shutting.

“The men’s bathroom at Raising Cane’s located at 2411 Sycamore Rd. DeKalb, IL 60115 United States has the most loudest, earth shattering restroom door of all mankind,” is written over the video showing the bathroom stall door closing in the viral TikTok. The post has been liked by more than 578,600 TikTok users and received more than 3,000 comments.

“I heard that ear deafening slam all the way over in Aurora,” another TikTok user, doooooooomy, commented.

“Can confirm (its) loudness. I hear it everyday from Charlotte, NC,” another TikTok user, Varanana wrote.

The video, which was posted July 31, has been viewed over 2.6 million times and manifested the door into a meme that’s been referenced across social media platforms over the past month. Even Yelp Reviews have mentioned the loud bathroom door.

“The chicken was scrumptious, however when I went to the bathroom the door was so loud I went temporarily deaf,” Jordan S. of Skokie wrote in their Aug. 4 four-star review of the restaurant.

“This [Raising Cane’s] has the loudest most earth shattering door in the mens restroom,” Willem S. of Chicago, wrote in a five star review posted on Aug. 1. “I mean LOUD. It closed behind me and I was having war flashbacks from the raw decibels vibrating my ear drums. It’s a metal door slamming metal so be ready for it. Other than that the food slaps and the people who work here are nice!”

The lore of the bathroom door also can be found on Twitter.

“Are you normal or are you on that part of tiktok where people keep traveling to the raising canes in dekalb, illinois to see if it really has the loudest bathroom door on earth (it does),” Twitter user @angelmendoza___ tweeted, including a TikTok from another TikTok user that has received over 100,000 likes.

That TikTok user, dominicohlinger posted another video Aug. 26 in which the metal door is deliberately slammed after being prompted by a comment left on a video posted on Aug. 24.

On Thursday, the bathroom stall door no longer had a handle on the outside but the lock inside the stall still worked.

Julia Doyle, Raising Cane’s director of public relations, said the “door is staying” and will be getting a new handle.

In response to requests for comments, Raising Cane’s directed the Daily Chronicle to what the company said when it retweeted @angelmendoza___.

“If you think that door slaps, you should try our Chicken Fingers,” @raisingcanes retweeted.