How Todd built the fortune
Todd Graves built one of the fastest growing restaurant chains in the United States on a menu that fits on a single board: chicken fingers, crinkle cut fries, Texas toast, coleslaw and a signature dipping sauce. The idea took shape while he was a student at Louisiana State University. He wrote a business plan for a restaurant serving only chicken fingers, and he has often recalled that it received one of the lowest grades in his class, while banks he approached turned him down for loans.
To raise money he took hard physical jobs, working long shifts at an oil refinery in California and then fishing for salmon in Alaska. With those savings, a loan secured with help from friends and a small group of local investors, he opened the first Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers in August 1996 near the north gates of the LSU campus in Baton Rouge. He did much of the renovation work on the building himself.
The restaurant was busy from the start, and Graves expanded first across Louisiana and then into neighboring states. Unlike many fast food chains, Raising Cane's has grown mostly through company owned restaurants rather than franchising, which means Graves and the company keep a larger share of each location's profits. That strategy, combined with high sales per restaurant, turned the chain into a national business with hundreds of locations across many states and a growing number of sites abroad. Graves holds the large majority of the company, so its expansion translates directly into personal wealth. The original restaurant near the LSU campus still operates.
Companies and holdings
Raising Cane's Restaurants LLC, headquartered in Baton Rouge with a major office in Plano, Texas, is the center of Graves's holdings. Key points about the business:
- The menu has stayed deliberately narrow since 1996, which keeps kitchens simple and service fast.
- Most restaurants are company operated, with franchising used mainly for certain markets, such as airports, college campuses and international locations.
- The chain has opened high profile flagship restaurants in places like Times Square in New York and the Las Vegas Strip.
Restaurant interiors feature local memorabilia and photographs tied to each community, part of a deliberate effort to make a fast growing chain feel local. Graves has kept the company privately held, avoiding a stock market listing, which allows him to keep control over pace and strategy.
Early life and career
Graves was born in 1972 and grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He attended Louisiana State University, where he earned a degree in business, and played sports as a young man. The restaurant is named after his yellow Labrador retriever, Raising Cane, and later dogs have carried on the name as company mascots.
Before opening the first restaurant he partnered with a friend, Craig Silvey, who helped launch the business and later sold his stake. For years Graves worked in the restaurants himself and took a direct role in training staff and choosing locations. He has always described himself first as a restaurant operator rather than an investor, and senior managers are expected to spend time working in restaurants.
Philanthropy and public life
Graves has kept the company closely tied to Baton Rouge and to local community causes. Raising Cane's supports education, feeding the hungry, animal welfare and active lifestyles through local restaurant level giving, and the company frequently sponsors school and university athletics. He and his family have also donated to programs at LSU and other Louisiana institutions.
He is a recognizable public figure in Louisiana, sometimes appearing in the company's own marketing and working shifts in restaurants during openings. During the coronavirus pandemic he drew attention by working at a drive through window himself while restaurants were short staffed. He has generally steered clear of national political debates and focuses public comments on the business and his home city.
He has spoken often about the value of hard physical work and about the early rejections he faced from lenders, using his own story to encourage young entrepreneurs. Company culture materials emphasize the founding story, the single menu and the idea that every crew member should understand the original restaurant's way of doing things. The approach has made the founder's personal history part of the brand itself.