Todd Graves

Build your business as a multi-generational family enterprise, not as a financial asset to be sold. Involve your children early, teach them your values, and position the business to outlast you.

Todd brings his children into the business, teaches them kindness and hard work, and tells them he wants them to carry on his values and grow Raising Cane's into a worldwide business after he is gone. This long-term mindset shapes every decision he makes.

“I want my kids in the business to carry on the values after their mom and I are gone.”

Appreciate and recognize your crew members constantly and publicly. Positive reinforcement and genuine care build loyalty, higher quality work, and a strong company culture that outperforms competitors.

Todd created the Cane's Love Department dedicated to respecting, rewarding, and recognizing crew members. He walks kitchens saying 'nice toast' and giving gift cards. He even orchestrated a lottery ticket campaign for crew morale that went viral. This stands in sharp contrast to the negative management he experienced in earlier restaurants.

“Good quality comes from positive motivational management. They know I care about them and they work even harder.”

Retain as much equity as possible in your own business. Raising capital from outside investors dilutes your ownership, spirit, and long-term motivation, especially when the hard work of building brand value is what creates wealth.

Todd financed growth primarily with his own capital (from boilermaking and commercial fishing) and angels, keeping over 90 percent ownership. This contrasts with founders who take venture capital or sell equity stakes and lose control. Todd emphasizes that founders care more deeply about their businesses than financial investors.

“I put all of my own money in and go full speed. I own over 90% of my business.”

Use creative, low-cost financing strategies when you lack capital. Structure deals with subordinated debt notes, leverage short-term cash flow timing (e.g., crew payment at two weeks, supplier payment at 30 days), and use government resources like SBA loans and SCORE advisors.

Todd secured angel investments as subordinated debt at 15 percent guaranteed returns, then used those as collateral to borrow from community banks. He financed his first 28 locations by managing the float between crew and supplier payment cycles. This allowed him to grow rapidly without external equity.

“I would go to an angel investor and say, invest $250,000 in a subordinated debt note. I will give you a 15% return and I will personally sign.”

Do one thing and do it better than anybody else. Resist the pressure to complicate or expand your offering, as it dilutes focus, slows execution, and loses what makes you special.

Todd has maintained the exact same menu since day one. Despite constant advice to add variety, follow trends, and expand offerings like competitors, he stayed stubbornly committed to chicken fingers. This singular focus enabled speed at the drive-through, superior quality control, and a differentiated market position.

“I've always believed in doing one thing and doing it better than anybody else. If you do what you do well and consistently do it great, your customers will come back.”

Do not delegate details away just because you are building a large organization. Bring in great leaders in their respective domains, but remain deeply involved in quality control and strategic decisions.

Todd rejects the idea of delegation as commonly practiced. He still approves every location, reviews marketing materials and Instagram reels, and stays obsessed with operational quality. He brought in talented leaders but never abdicated his own involvement in the details.

“Delegate? What kind of word is that? Work with great leaders, but still be in the details.”

Focus your marketing budget on things that genuinely delight your crew and customers, not on traditional advertising. Grassroots, authentic gestures often generate more earned media and loyalty than expensive ad campaigns.

Todd spent 100,000 dollars buying lottery tickets for crew members (a 100,000 dollar marketing expense that generated millions in impressions when it went viral). This served multiple purposes: crew morale, marketing reach, and recruiting. It was infinitely more effective than traditional QSR advertising.

“I got millions and millions of impressions. It's on the Today show and local media. It cost $100,000 and wound up being a great recruiting tool.”

Determination and the refusal to entertain failure as an option are not innate talents that appear at the moment of business launch. They are formed early in life through family values and childhood experiences.

Todd says he was born determined. His father taught him hard work and kindness. This determination showed up in the lemonade stand as a kid, in restaurants in high school and college, and carried through to his chicken finger dream. It was not a switch that flipped when he became an entrepreneur.

“That determination was always there. It really paid off later in a big way when I wanted to start this dream.”

Make your business personal. When you own it, operate it, and care deeply about every customer and crew member, you outcompete larger companies that treat business as a purely financial transaction.

Todd constantly repeats that it's personal to him. This personal ownership allows him to make quick decisions during crises (Hurricane Katrina, pandemic) without board approval. Non-founder-led corporations cannot move this way because decisions are financial, not personal.

“It's personal to me. I don't have to answer to anybody but my crew and my customers.”

Make sure your business is something you genuinely love to do, not just something that makes money. If you do not love it, you will eventually quit, and you will never build a truly great business.

Todd's first co-founder quit after the second store because he did not love the work. Todd loves working the fry line and drive-through. This love is why he never considers selling despite billion-dollar offers, and why Raising Cane's is growing faster 30 years in than at the start.

“Whatever you get into, make sure it's something you like to do. If not, you won't be successful at it.”

Willingness to do hard, uncomfortable, risky work when young is an underrated asset. Use your youth, energy, and lack of obligations to outwork and out-persist competitors who are older and more comfortable.

Todd worked 95-hour weeks as a boilermaker, lived in a tent on the Alaskan tundra eating ramen, and risked his life commercial fishing in deadly conditions to save capital. At 23 and 24, he could outwork everyone around him. This asset is not available once you are older.

“I was 23. I could sleep for a few hours, get up the next day and feel fine. You can't do that when you're older.”

Stay in the details of your business, even as it scales. Know your costs down to the penny and understand how each operational decision ripples across the entire system.

Todd obsesses over details like a 15-second delay from a Snoop Dogg poster in the drive-through, and approves every location personally. This mirrors Rockefeller's obsession with finding the optimal number of solder drops per can, which saved hundreds of thousands over time when multiplied across thousands of units.

“The most successful people I know stay in the details of their business.”

Refuse to listen to critics and experts who tell you what cannot be done. If your intuition and research tell you something will work, pursue it aggressively even when conventional wisdom says otherwise.

Bankers told Todd his chicken-finger-only concept would fail. His business professor gave him a failing grade on his plan. Yet Todd trusted his analysis and his gut. The same happened to Fred Smith (FedEx) and Phil Knight (Nike). Todd succeeded where experts predicted failure.

“When I heard no, it made me want to do it even more.”

Turn crises into competitive advantages. When others shut down or pull back, founders with control and determination can move faster, open sooner, and capture market share and goodwill from communities that need service.

When Hurricane Katrina hit, Todd rallied his team to reopen faster than any competitor. They had a 90-day window as the only restaurant open, which brought in thousands of new customers. The pandemic similarly favored Raising Cane's drive-through model while indoor dining shut down.

“We need to get open as quickly as possible for two reasons: our crew needs to make money and our communities need food.”

Do not franchise if you want to maintain control and quality. Keep restaurants corporately owned so you can enforce your standards and culture across every location.

Todd refused to franchise despite Post Malone's interest in owning a Cane's. Instead, he created a special branded location where they shared profits but Todd maintained corporate control. This allowed him to preserve quality and brand integrity.

“I would rather open company restaurants because I can control them. I want these things run exceptionally well.”

Build slowly and deliberately at first to build the right systems, then accelerate once the model is proven. Early slowness compounds into exponential growth when the model scales.

Todd took 25 years to build 600 locations through careful, founder-led expansion. Once the model was fully debugged, he opened 200 more in the next three years. This mirrors Sam Walton, who took five years to open his first store, then opened 100+ stores in seven years once the model was refined.

“Go slow now so you can go faster later.”