Todd Graves was born in 1972 and is the founder of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, a fast food restaurant chain specialising in fried chicken finger meals. In 1996, Graves and Craig Silvey opened the first restaurant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Graves grew up in Baton Rouge but was born in New Orleans. Graves graduated from Baton Rouge’s Episcopal High School.

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Career

Graves and long-time friend Craig Silvey tested their business concept at LSU using Silvey’s business plan course. The project scored a B minus in class, and the professor observed that a firm based solely on chicken fingers could never succeed. The two were unable to convince bankers to support their restaurant concept. Graves, therefore, worked at a refinery in California before joining Silvey as a salmon fisherman in Alaska to collect funds for the first restaurant.

Graves opened Raising Cane’s on Highland Road, just outside the North Gates of Louisiana State University, in 1996. Over the next 25 years, Graves would manage the company’s growth to more than 600 restaurants in the United States and the Middle East, with annual sales of more than $1.9 billion.

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The restaurants are named after Raising Cane I, Graves’ dog at the time of the first restaurant’s establishment. Their headquarters are in Baton Rouge.

Personal life and accolades

Graves and his wife, Gwen, have two children and live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with Raising Cane III, a yellow Labrador.

Graves was ranked #28 on Glassdoor’s 2019 Top CEOs in the United States list. In 2012, he was elected Restaurateur of the Year by the Louisiana Restaurant Association, and in 2013, he was named Louisianan of the Year by Louisiana Life magazine. Graves received the 2010 SCORE Award for Socially Progressive Business. Graves was also selected Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 in 2008.

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In July 2022, Graves bought Mega Millions tickets for his entire company. He tweeted, “Buying 50,000 lottery tickets is harder than you think! Hoping to share the winning jackpot with our 50,000 @RaisingCanes Crew.”

Since they missed the jackpot the first time, he bought another 50,000 tickets trying their luck for the second time in the July 30, 2022 draw.