Young entrepreneur counts success on chicken fingers
By DANA SLEGER
Whoever thought serving only chicken fingers would evolve into a multimillion-dollar corporation and give an economic boost to a city’s retail activity?
One man did and his success story has captured the attention of business owners across the country.
Todd Graves, founder and owner of Raising Cane’s, opened his 19th location last month at the entrance of Crossroads Mall in Gulfport.
With profits soaring over $30 million this year, the 32-year-old from Baton Rouge has watched his vision grow from the pioneer stage to an established entrepreneurial status.
By sticking to a simple menu consisting of chicken fingers, fries, Texas toast, coleslaw and the famous Cane’s dipping sauce, the dine-in/drive-thru restaurant has captured the attention of fast food patrons on the Gulf Coast.
“Business at the Gulfport location has been tremendous,” said Graves. “We chose Gulfport because of the demographics, the traffic location, the blend of businesses and the retail draw nearby that keeps us busy on nights and weekends.”
The success story for Raising Cane’s began when Graves opened his first location outside the north gates of Louisiana State University in 1996 when he was 24 years old.
Struggling to sell the idea that serving only chicken fingers would be prosperous, investors were slow to back the concept, but eventually saw the potential after Graves raised money catching Sockeye salmon in Alaska for the business venture.
Upon returning to Baton Rouge, his initial idea was to name the restaurant “Sockeye’s,” but after heeding advice from friends that the name was not appealing, he turned to his sidekick for a name, his dog, Cane.
During renovations, Cane frequently accompanied Graves to the LSU store location and it only seem appropriate to name his restaurant, Raising Cane’s.
After the grand opening, Graves found himself working 120 hours a week but the response from the college students encouraged him to carry out his vision.
“Being the age I was, I knew what time students wanted to eat, what money they would be willing to spend and what kind of quality they wanted,” said Graves.
“From a crew member sense, I knew how to motivate employees, work around classes and how to make it a fun working environment.”
After seeing his dream evolve into a lucrative venture, Graves opened his second location a year and a half later at the south gates of LSU and quickly realized his customers expanded beyond the college crowd.
The community reception and financial success of Raising Cane’s in Baton Rouge allowed Graves to franchise his operation beyond the Louisiana border.
Plans to open up six more locations in Ohio, Colorado and Texas are set for this fall which will expand his family of 650 employees.
Not only is Grave’s passion geared toward serving fresh, quality food at a fast food rate, he is also committed to a philosophy he developed at his first location.
“We have a program called Cane’s Love program and it’s really important to me because I know how hard it is to work and it’s a challenging job,” Graves said.
“All of our managers go through Cane’s Love and the most important thing you do in the program is look for things to compliment employees on.”
Although the vision for Raising Cane’s has expanded beyond initial plans, the valuable lessons learned throughout the growth process have supplied Graves with wisdom beyond his years.
As far as advice for future franchisees of any business, the two biggest lessons learned are focus on progress instead of perfectionism and know the business inside and out.
Even today, the title on his business card states, Todd Graves, founder, chairman, CEO, fry cook and cashier.
Dana Sleger can be reached at (228) 238-0060 or dsleger@cableone.net