Built to Last: Todd Graves and His Chicken Finger Dream

The Chicken Finger Empire Built From Nothing

What do you get when a college kid with no money, no business plan, and a love for fried chicken decides he's going to build a fast food empire? You get Todd Graves, founder of Raising Cane’s, the billion-dollar chicken finger chain with a cult following and one menu item. This week on Built to Last, we're digging into the scrappy, hilarious, and genuinely inspiring story of how Graves turned rejection, minimum-wage jobs, and pure stubbornness into one of the fastest-growing fast food businesses in America. It involves a failed class project, a pair of steel-toe boots, and a dream that refused to die. Today, Todd Graves is worth an estimated $9.5 billion and he still owns 90% of the company he built from scratch.

Let’s Dive In!

Early Life: Unlikely Beginnings for an Unlikely Billionaire

Todd Graves was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1972. From a young age, Graves showed a strong work ethic, taking odd jobs and learning the value of hustle early on. He attended the University of Georgia and later transferred to LSU, where he majored in telecommunications and business. But academics weren’t what fired him up. It was his long-standing dream of opening a chicken finger restaurant. He believed in doing one thing and doing it better than anyone else.

While still in college, Graves wrote a business plan for Raising Cane’s as part of a course assignment. His professor gave it the lowest possible grade and told him the idea would never work. A restaurant that only sold chicken fingers? No way. The feedback was brutal: too narrow a menu, too risky, and no proof of demand. But Graves didn’t care. He believed simplicity was a strength, not a weakness and that by perfecting just one product, he could create a fan base unlike any other. Determined to prove everyone wrong, he set out to turn his dream into a reality.

First Breakthrough: From Rebar to Deep Fryers

With banks rejecting his business proposal left and right, Graves took matters into his own hands… literally. To raise startup capital, he took a job working 90-hour weeks as a boilermaker in an oil refinery in California, where he earned around $5,000 a month. Backbreaking work but good money for someone fueled with a dream like his. When Todd decided that wasn’t enough, he headed to Alaska to work on a commercial salmon fishing boat, braving freezing waters and grueling 20-hour days for about $6,000 a month. He ran as lean as he could, refusing to spend a penny on anything that wasn’t necessary. These physically demanding jobs tested his resolve but proved just how far he was willing to go to fund his vision. By the end, Todd scraped together enough money to get started. Not through luck or loans, but through sheer sweat.

When he returned home, he got to work building the first Raising Cane’s by hand with his friend and co-founder Craig Silvey. They poured their own concrete, installed their own kitchen equipment, and even did the wiring themselves to stretch every dollar. In 1996, the first Cane’s opened just outside LSU’s North Gates in Baton Rouge. It was a simple setup: chicken fingers, crinkle-cut fries, coleslaw, Texas toast, and Cane’s sauce. That’s it. But that tight menu let them focus on quality, consistency, and speed, something fast food giants struggled to maintain. Students and locals quickly caught on, forming long lines and word-of-mouth buzz. Graves had found his people and his product.

Market Disruption: A Chicken Finger Cult

Cane’s didn’t just sell chicken; it sold a “vibe”. With Graves leading from the front (sometimes in costume, always with passion), the brand developed a fun, youthful, community-focused identity. He made a point to be highly visible. Visiting stores, chatting with employees, and staying deeply involved in day-to-day operations, even as the business scaled. Instead of pouring money into national ad campaigns, Raising Cane’s leaned into grassroots marketing partnering with local schools, sponsoring community events, and showing up big on college campuses. This boots-on-the-ground approach made the brand feel personal and authentic like a friend, not a corporation.

Unlike fast food giants constantly expanding and tweaking their menus, Raising Cane’s took the opposite route. While competitors flooded their menus with salads, burgers, and rotating promotions, Cane’s doubled down on its chicken-finger-only focus. That consistency earned them not just loyal fans but also chicken finger fanatics. Cane’s employees could be trained faster, the kitchens operated more efficiently, and customers always knew what to expect. The result? Lightning-fast service, zero decision fatigue, and an almost religious following for that golden chicken and its famous Cane’s Sauce. Graves had created not just a restaurant, but a brand culture that people wanted to be a part of.

Overcoming Failure: Everyone Said No

Graves heard "no" more times than he could count. Banks turned him away. Professors said the concept was weak. Investors laughed. But Graves didn’t stop. He leaned into the rejection, using it as fuel.

One banker even told him, “A chicken finger restaurant with no burgers? It’ll never make it.” Another called his plan "a recipe for failure." Rather than revise the concept, Graves doubled down on it. He knew that success didn’t require approval, it required belief and relentless work. So he returned to the oil refinery in California and the fishing vessels in Alaska, clocking brutal hours and saving every penny. He once recalled working weeks straight without a day off, sleeping in bunks with strangers, all while dreaming about fryers and sauce recipes. That grit shaped the company culture, a kind of underdog spirit that still runs through the veins of Cane’s today. Graves often tells people: the key to success isn’t brilliance, it’s persistence. He didn’t start with capital or connections, just conviction and a refusal to quit when the world told him to.

The Big Idea: Keep It Simple, Keep It Excellent

Graves didn’t want to build just another fast food chain, he wanted to build a movement. By focusing on one product, delivering exceptional quality, and building a culture around kindness, community, and crazy customer service, he created something that stood out in a sea of sameness.

The "One Love" philosophy (chicken fingers, and nothing else) became a company mantra. It informed everything, the menu, marketing, and operations. As the company scaled, the idea stayed consistent: don’t do more, just do better.

Scaling & Growth: Cane’s Goes National (and Beyond)

From that single LSU storefront, Raising Cane’s grew methodically. By staying private, Graves kept control and avoided the pressure to scale too fast. He built the business on culture, retention, and operational excellence. That meant loyal employees, high-performing stores, and brand fanatics who treated Cane’s like a lifestyle. In 2024, the chain saw its average sales per store increase to $6.6 million, according to Forbes. This figure placed Raising Cane's among the top-performing quick-service restaurant chains, second only to Chick-fil-A. While this is impressive now, what most people don’t see is the 30 years of hard work to get to this point.

Graves famously referred to his crew members as part of the “Caniac” family and invested heavily in training, benefits, and creating a fun work environment well before it became trendy. While other fast-food chains struggled with turnover, Cane’s was known for low attrition and high morale. Locations often partnered with local schools, sports teams, and nonprofits, creating deep community roots wherever they opened. Today, Raising Cane’s has over 700 locations in the U.S. and internationally including Dubai, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia with plans for aggressive global expansion in the near future. Canes pulls in over $3 billion in annual revenue and earned Graves a spot on the Forbes Billionaires list with an estimated net worth of $9.5 billion, all while still owning over 90% of the company. Not bad for a guy who couldn’t get a loan because his idea was "too narrow."

Legacy: The Billion-Dollar Chicken Finger

Todd Graves took a one-item menu and built a billion-dollar empire. He bet on focus, perseverance, and a relentless commitment to doing the simple things better than anyone else. Along the way, he stayed true to his vision and values even when it meant welding rebar or fishing for his funding.

Graves’ story is proof that expertise isn’t always about having all the answers. Sometimes, it’s just about refusing to quit. If you’ve got a dream and a work ethic that won’t quit, Todd Graves has a message for you:

Do one thing. Do it right. Do it until the world can’t ignore you.

Stick by his advice and you’ll set the foundation for a company that will be Built to Last.

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— The Built to Last Team