Todd Graves (entrepreneur)

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Todd Graves
BREC Dog Park Groundbreaking City Park Scaled-10.jpg
Graves and his dog, Raising Cane II
Born
Todd Bartlett Graves

1972 (age 5253)
Education University of Georgia (BA)
Occupation(s)Businessman, restaurateur
OfficeOwner and Founder of Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers [1]
SpouseGwen Drain Graves
Children2

Todd Bartlett Graves (born 1972) is an American entrepreneur, restaurateur and billionaire who is the Owner and Founder of Raising Cane's, a quick service restaurant specializing in Chicken Finger meals with 925+ restaurants across 40+ states and international markets [2] .  

Contents

As of April 2025, Forbes estimated his net worth is at $17.2 billion, making him the 116th wealthiest person in the world. He ranked #107 on the 2024 Forbes 400 List of richest Americans. [3]

Early life

Graves was raised in Baton Rouge, where he attended Episcopal High School and played a variety of sports including track and field and was the quarterback of the football team. He also took Honors classes and was active in drama and theater. [4]

An entrepreneur from the start, Graves was always looking for ways to make money and dabbled in various ventures throughout his childhood ranging from lemonade stands to curb stenciling to lawn mowing. Graves drew inspiration from jobs other kids were doing and believed he could find a way to do it more efficiently. [5]  

Following high school graduation, Graves attended the University of Georgia. [3] and studied telecommunications with a minor in business to pursue his dream of writing for television and film. However, throughout college, Graves worked in various restaurants and bars, which further cemented his love for food and the restaurant industry and led him to pursue a different dream – to open one restaurant that sold chicken fingers in his hometown of Baton Rouge, right by Louisiana State University’s campus.

Career

Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers

Following his graduation from Georgia in 1995, Graves returned home to turn his dream into a reality. Boneless chicken was becoming increasingly popular [6] and Graves wanted to focus on doing one thing and doing it better than anyone else.  

In search of a partner to help open this restaurant, Graves reached out to childhood friend Craig Silvey. In the months that followed, Graves did all he could to learn about running a business. He read business books, attended Southern University’s Small Business Development Center and SCORE seminars, and spoke with a variety of businesspeople. All that was left was to put pen to paper.

Silvey, who was attending LSU at the time, was enrolled in a business management class and was tasked with the assignment to submit a business plan. Graves helped Silvey develop a business plan for their vision – “Folly’s Fingers of LSU” – which received the lowest grade in the class. The professor noted that a restaurant serving only chicken fingers in southern Louisiana, which was known for its Cajun food, would never work and pointed out that the industry was trending toward variety and salad and grilled options. The “veto vote” would inherently rule out any restaurant focused solely on chicken fingers.   [7]

Undeterred, Graves and Silvey set out to make their dream a reality and began visiting every bank in town to secure a loan. The duo was again met with skepticism over their concept and even their lack of experience. Potential investors stated they needed to get “real” jobs and that their idea would never work. Following rejection after rejection, Graves and Silvey were more motivated than ever to prove that a concept selling only chicken fingers would work and Graves decided to raise the money himself. [8]

Graves then set out for Los Angeles to work 90-hour weeks as a boilermaker at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo. Fellow boilermakers gave him the nickname “Hollywood” and were the first to believe in him and his plan. It was during his time at the refinery that he met Wild Bill Tolar, who tipped him off to the idea of commercial fishing in Alaska. Tolar said it was incredibly dangerous work and long hours but paid well. From there, Graves flew to Alaska and proceeded to hitchhike to Naknek and camp on the frozen Tundra surviving on Pork-N-Beans. After a month, Graves successfully convinced the captain to give him a job as a commercial sockeye salmon fisherman. Tolar was right – the work was hard and dangerous, with peak season consisting of 20-hour days. During his time with the boat crew, Graves would cook for them and tell them about his plans of opening a restaurant. Following his ventures in LA and Alaska, Graves took short jobs in Denver and Hawaii at a refinery before returning home to Baton Rouge with $50,000 and a dream that was more alive than ever. [9]

Graves knew he couldn’t open a restaurant with $50,000 so he still needed to find investors, but this time they listened. He raised $90,000 of subordinated debt, which included small investments from some friends he met during his time as a boilermaker. He also secured an SBA loan from Source Capital for an additional $50,000. [10]

Shark Tank

In 2024, Graves joined ABC's Shark Tank for season 16 as a "Guest Shark," appearing in certain episodes alongside other judges including Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Kevin O'Leary, Daymond John, Barbara Corcoran, Robert Herjavec, and Daniel Lubetzky.

Of his appearance on the show, Graves said, "As a long-time viewer and fan of the show, I'm excited to bring my restaurant and business experience to entrepreneurs and help guide them as they build their brands. At my core, I love business and helping people succeed; and at the end of the day, it’ [11]

Personal life

In 2000, Graves married Gwen Drain, a McDonald's franchisee, whom he had known since high school. [12] [13] They have two children and reside in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with their yellow Labrador, Raising Cane III. [14] . Graves also owns Will Ferrel's original Elf suit from Elf (on display during the holidays at Raising Cane's Global Flagship in Times Square). [15]

Collections

Todd Graves at the Raising Cane's Dog Park in Baton Rouge, Louisiana BREC Dog Park Groundbreaking City Park Scaled-10.jpg
Todd Graves at the Raising Cane's Dog Park in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

An avid collector, Graves has loaned a 66-million-year-old triceratops skull to the Louisiana Arts and Science Museum. [16] He has also loaned the hearse that carried Martin Luther King Jr. to exhibits across the country. [17]

Todd Graves at Eat Las Vegas RestaurantRecoverywithToddGravesLasVegasEpisode.jpg
Todd Graves at Eat Las Vegas

References

  1. Sayre, Alan (June 12, 2007). "Finger joint beat the odds on fish turf". Atlanta Constitution. pp. D3. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  2. "Who We Are | Raising Cane's". raisingcanes.com. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Forbes profile: Todd Graves". Forbes. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
  4. "Episcopal Alumni | Notable Knights". www.episcopalbr.org. Retrieved September 5, 2025.
  5. School of Hard Knocks (July 27, 2025). Meet The Billionaire Who Built A $20B Chicken Finger Empire . Retrieved September 5, 2025 via YouTube.
  6. "Chicken's popularity makes it the most consumed U.S. meat | Economic Research Service". www.ers.usda.gov. Retrieved September 5, 2025.
  7. McDowell, Nancy Luna, Erin. "How the Raising Cane's founder, Todd Graves, turned a lousy college grade into a billion-dollar fast-food business". Business Insider. Retrieved September 5, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. "Who We Are | Raising Cane's". raisingcanes.com. Retrieved September 5, 2025.
  9. "Spotify – Web Player". Spotify. Retrieved September 5, 2025.
  10. School of Hard Knocks (July 27, 2025). Meet The Billionaire Who Built A $20B Chicken Finger Empire . Retrieved September 5, 2025 via YouTube.
  11. Kelso, Alicia (September 19, 2024). "Raising Cane's founder Todd Graves will join Shark Tank". Nation's Restaurant News . Retrieved August 11, 2025.
  12. KASHYAP, HANIKA (October 18, 2024). "Who is Todd Graves' wife? 'Shark Tank' guest judge's love story is the sweetest". Meaww.com. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
  13. "The Key Magazine Fall 2008 Page 45". thekey.kappa.org. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
  14. "Dog Days of Summer: Our tails are wagging for Todd Graves' new shelter pup and the entrants of this year's contest". July 3, 2022.
  15. "Raising Cane's Gives The Gift Of Bikes To Thousands Of Kids This Holiday Season – Foodbeast". August 21, 2025. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  16. Miller, Robin (February 29, 2016). "There's a 66 million-year-old triceratops in Baton Rouge". The Advocate.
  17. Miller, Robin (January 14, 2019). "Hearse that carried the body of Martin Luther King Jr. comes to Baton Rouge". The Advocate.