Raising Cane's: Todd Graves
Summary
Todd Graves pursued his dream of a simple chicken finger restaurant near LSU despite universal doubt and a B-minus business plan. Unable to get bank loans, he took on dangerous jobs in oil refineries and Alaskan fishing to fund the first location. Facing challenges scaling and his partner's departure, he learned tough lessons about growth and financing, ultimately building Raising Cane's into a billion-dollar, company-owned empire by sticking to his focused menu.Episode description
By his early 20s, Todd Graves knew exactly what he wanted to do—open a restaurant near Louisiana State University that would make four things better than anyone else: chicken fingers, crinkle-cut fries, Texas toast, and coleslaw. After he and his partner Craig Silvey got rejected from every bank in Baton Rouge, Todd set out to fund his dream by working two treacherous jobs; first at an oil refinery and then on an Alaskan fishing boat. With roughly $150,000, he remodeled an old bike shop and opened his first restaurant in 1996. As word spread, Todd began building more restaurants, fueling the expansion on a rickety system of loans, and dreaming of making Cane’s as ubiquitous as McDonald's. Over the years, he has retained ownership of the business and watched it grow to over 600 stores, with 3 billion dollars in sales projected this year.
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