Executive Spotlight: Todd Graves, Founder & CEO of Raising Cane's (2027)
Todd Graves is the founder and CEO of Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers. He opened the first restaurant near Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in 1996 and has built it around a short menu centered on chicken fingers. The Baton Rouge newspaper The Advocate reported at the end of 2025 that the chain had about 1,000 outlets and more than $5 billion in annual sales, with a stated goal of $10 billion in sales by 2030.
This page covers public professional information only, drawn from published news coverage.
Current role and company
Local and national press in 2024 and 2025 consistently describe Todd Graves as the founder and CEO of Raising Cane's. The Advocate reported in December 2025 that Graves says the company's corporate headquarters stays in Baton Rouge, while most operations run from a Restaurant Support Office in Plano, Texas, which opened in 2009. A larger Plano facility of about 400,000 square feet, announced in 2024, was slated for completion in 2026. The Advocate also reported that Graves reportedly owns most of the privately held company and has resisted going public.
- CompanyRaising Cane's Chicken Fingers
- TitleFounder and CEO, per The Advocate (Dec 2025) and Biz New Orleans (Sep 2024).
- First restaurant1996, near Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
- Restaurant Support OfficePlano, Texas (opened 2009).
Career path
- Early jobs to fund the idea. Yahoo Finance, citing Moneywise, reports that he worked as a boilermaker at a Los Angeles oil refinery and fished sockeye salmon in Alaska, saving his pay to start the business.
- Funding the first restaurant. The same report says banks and investors turned him down before he secured a Small Business Administration loan.
- Opening Raising Cane's, 1996. The first restaurant opened near LSU in Baton Rouge, according to Yahoo Finance and Biz New Orleans.
- Guest shark on Shark Tank, 2024. He appeared as a guest shark in the 16th season of ABC's Shark Tank, which premiered October 18, 2024, according to Biz New Orleans.
What he is known for
- A one-item concept. Yahoo Finance describes a menu of about five items: chicken fingers, fries, coleslaw, Texas toast and a signature sauce. It quotes Graves as saying the company "didn't reinvent the drive-thru."
- Per-restaurant sales. Yahoo Finance reports average unit volume of $5.69 million per location by August 2024, citing the 2024 QSR 50 report, and says Forbes found this was more than double that of competitors Zaxby's and Bojangles.
- Employee ratings. In June 2019 Glassdoor ranked him the top CEO in Louisiana and 28th nationally, with a 95% approval rating from employee reviews, according to WAFB and WBRZ. Glassdoor based this on anonymous, voluntary employee reviews.
- Keeping the headquarters in Baton Rouge. He told The Advocate that the company's headquarters remains in Baton Rouge: "The company is here. I'm here. The dog is here."
Leadership style and philosophy
Graves's public comments center on focus and growth. At a 2024 conference he said, as quoted by Yahoo Finance: "Our next aspiration is to be a top 10 restaurant brand in the U.S." Speaking to The Advocate, he said of expansion, "I love opening new restaurants, new communities." Yahoo Finance also reports he intends to keep promoting team members from within and plans to invest $100 million into local communities. This page found no longer interviews or talks of his own to draw on.
Key numbers
Figures about Raising Cane's, with the period shown. They are drawn from press reports and describe the company, not Todd Graves personally. Several come from interviews with the company or trade reporting rather than audited statements, since the company is private.
- Locations, end of 2025About 1,000 outlets in 43 states, the Middle East and Canada, per The Advocate (Dec 31, 2025).
- Sales, 2025Topped $5 billion, per The Advocate.
- Revenue, 2024$5.1 billion, per Forbes as cited by Yahoo Finance.
- EmployeesRoughly 70,000 in the U.S., per The Advocate (Dec 2025).
- Locations, September 2024Over 830 in 40 states, per Biz New Orleans.
- Locations, June 2019440 across 27 states and 6 countries, per WBRZ.
What to watch next
Worth tracking: The Advocate reported plans for 2026 to enter the United Kingdom and Mexico and open about 100 new U.S. locations, to mark the chain's 30th anniversary in August 2026, and to pursue a $10 billion sales goal by 2030. Check the company's own announcements for how those plans have progressed.
Questions people ask
Who is Todd Graves?
He is the founder and CEO of Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, which he started in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1996.
Is Todd Graves still the CEO of Raising Cane's?
Yes. The Advocate described him as founder and CEO in December 2025.
When and where did the first Raising Cane's open?
In 1996, near Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, according to Yahoo Finance and Biz New Orleans.
Where is Raising Cane's headquartered?
Graves told The Advocate the corporate headquarters stays in Baton Rouge, while most operations run from the Restaurant Support Office in Plano, Texas.
How big is Raising Cane's?
The Advocate reported about 1,000 outlets and more than $5 billion in sales as of the end of 2025.
What is Raising Cane's growth goal?
The Advocate reported that Graves has a goal of $10 billion in sales by 2030.
Sources
- The Advocate: Todd Graves talks brand expansion (Dec 31, 2025) · Current title, locations, sales, headquarters, 2026 plans, quotes
- Yahoo Finance: Raising Cane's CEO Todd Graves turned a rejected chicken finger idea into a billion-dollar empire · Early career, menu, 2024 revenue, unit volume, quotes
- Biz New Orleans: Todd Graves joins Shark Tank as guest shark (Sept 20, 2024) · Founder title, 1996 opening, 2024 location count
- WBRZ: Todd Graves named one of America's top CEOs (June 19, 2019) · Glassdoor ranking, 2019 location count
- WAFB: Your Turn, Todd Graves, Raising Cane's CEO (June 21, 2019) · Founder and CEO title, Glassdoor approval rating
- Wikimedia Commons: Todd Graves on set of Restaurant Recovery (photo) · Hero photo, author and CC BY-SA 4.0 license
Facts were read from the linked pages on November 1, 2026, partly through a fetch tool that returns summaries, so confirm details on the original pages. Raising Cane's own website could not be fetched, so the current title rests on December 2025 press coverage. The hero photo, cropped from a larger frame that also shows another person, is by Wikimedia Commons user Jiw900 and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. This page covers public professional information only.
Top photo: Jiw900 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped from the original)