My conversation with Todd Graves

Summary of My conversation with Todd Graves

by David Senra

2h 0m•November 9, 2025
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Overview of My conversation with Todd Graves

David Senra interviews Todd Graves — founder and long-time CEO of Raising Cane’s — about obsession, focus, product quality, founding stories, financing, scaling, and why he refuses to sell control of his business. The conversation traces Todd’s early hustle (refinery work, Alaskan fishing, credit cards), the launch of the first Raising Cane’s near LSU, the expansion choices (franchise vs company-owned), operational playbooks (singular-product focus, cook-to-order, culinary rigor), culture building (Canes Love), and crisis responses (Katrina, COVID). Throughout, Todd emphasizes fanaticism, staying in the details, and purpose-driven ownership.

Key takeaways

  • Radical focus wins: one exceptional product (chicken fingers + Cane Sauce) done consistently and relentlessly outcompetes broader but distracted menus.
  • Quality + speed = craveability: cook-to-order, the right ingredients/species of bird, brine times, bread, fries — and fast, optimized service — produce repeat customers.
  • Founder control matters: retaining ownership preserves purpose, culture, and long-term customer focus vs. short-term, investor-driven decisions.
  • Stay in the details, but systematize: hire and develop operators, but continue to supplement, teach, and measure until they match your standards.
  • Fanaticism and stamina: early-stage success requires extreme effort and willingness to endure hardship; later, the founder must still be present and protective of the mission.
  • Learn from crises: Katrina and COVID were turned into strategic advantages by being operationally nimble and community-focused; lessons led to conservative financial guardrails.

Notable quotes and concept highlights

  • “Nothing ever happens unless someone pursues a vision fanatically.”
  • “Never sacrifice quality for speed.”
  • “The distracted don’t beat the focused.”
  • “If you create and do, you never want to stop creating and doing.”
  • “It’s not what you make, it’s what you give.” (purpose over money)
  • “We are a restaurant support office — not a corporate office. We exist to serve the people that are serving our customers.”

Founding & early financing (timeline & anecdotes)

  • Early hustle: worked in refineries, commercial salmon fishing in Alaska, boiled credit cards and bartending to fund himself while building the concept.
  • Business plan: wrote a highly detailed plan as a college student; was told “it won’t work,” used rejection as fuel.
  • Initial capital: raised about $60k from early investors; secured an SBA loan (~$90k) to open the first location near LSU.
  • First months: invested earnings back into the business; reportedly made only $30 the first month but that covered essentials and allowed continuation.
  • “Wild Bill” and other blue-collar investors: community/working-man investors were early believers.
  • Growth financing: used subordinated debt and community bank relationships to expand; opened multiple locations, then developed a prototype restaurant to scale operations efficiently.
  • Over-leverage lesson: Katrina exposed financial vulnerability (many units down, heavy leverage). Result: committed to conservative financial metrics and never to over-leverage the company again.

Product & operational philosophy

  • Singular-product focus: Raising Cane’s concentrates on one core meal (chicken finger box + sides + Cane Sauce). The menu is “focused,” not “simple”—the complexity exists in mastering the single product.
  • Culinary rigor: a large culinary department (not just R&D); precise specs on bird species, brining times, bread type, fries handling, tea sourcing; two-year supply-chain work for international openings.
  • Cook-to-order & no heat lamps: avoid holding food; freshness drives craveability.
  • Speed optimization: shaving seconds off order times materially increases sales and profitability (two seconds faster → meaningful incremental revenue at scale).
  • Prototype-first scaling: spent time creating a fully-tested prototype (kitchen, service flow, training, systems) before rapid roll-out.

Culture, people & management systems

  • Canes Love (Respect, Recognition, Rewards): a structured people program—respect (e.g., closed on major holidays), recognition (tenure awards, public praise), and rewards (points systems, merch, bonuses).
  • Positive motivational management: praise costs nothing and drives performance; daily coaching/feedback like sports coaching.
  • Hiring & development: prioritize intrinsically motivated people; don’t rely only on titles or pay to motivate; train and coach relentlessly.
  • Founder presence: Todd remains deeply involved in operations and in the details; delegation happens gradually as people demonstrate they can hit the founder’s standard (95/100 example).
  • “Restaurant support office” concept: central office exists to serve restaurants and frontline staff, not to create distance.

Franchise vs. company-owned strategy

  • Early use of franchisees to accelerate growth and reduce capital burden; over time Todd found franchisees often operated below company standards and slowed implementation of improvements.
  • He bought back franchise units (around the 10-year mark), integrated them, and saw sales/wages/performance improve.
  • Rationale: company-owned model preserves uniform execution, faster rollouts of operational changes, higher eventual enterprise valuation (company EBITDA multiples > franchise-focused valuation).

Crisis responses and lessons (Katrina & COVID)

  • Katrina: massive disruption, many units down. Todd mobilized teams, worked with state authorities, opened restaurants where possible, fed first responders and returning communities — converted presence into goodwill and substantial sales as communities reopened.
  • Lesson: never put the company in a position of extreme financial vulnerability again (adopted conservative leverage rules).
  • COVID: adapted quickly (drive-thru operations, multiple lanes, safety protocols), protected crew, used generated power solutions in some locations, again turning necessity into advantage and enabling large crew bonuses and community support.

Advice for founders (practical and strategic)

  • Be fanatical about your vision and willing to endure hardship.
  • Retain control when the business is personal and purpose-driven—be cautious with private equity that prioritizes financial returns over culture.
  • Don’t delegate the founder’s core domain blindly: hire great people, supplement/coach them until they hit your standards, then step back where appropriate.
  • Focus on sales-driven growth: prioritize customers and craveability; sales growth compounds into profit.
  • Build operational prototypes and test rigorously before scaling.
  • Buy real estate where feasible; it helps control costs and capture upside.
  • Create systems for crew respect, recognition, and reward to sustain culture at scale.
  • Measure the small things (costs down to the penny); operational vigilance prevents “death by a thousand cuts.”

Concrete action items / checklist for restaurant founders

  • Define your one craveable product and document every specification (ingredient, brine time, cook time, portion size).
  • Build a culinary team (not just R&D) focused on supply chain repeatability.
  • Prototype the full restaurant (kitchen flow, training, POS, service scripts) before rapid expansion.
  • Implement a “Crew Love” program: respect (scheduling/holidays), recognition (tenure awards), rewards (points/merch).
  • Track order-time metrics and set goals to shave seconds off service—quantify revenue impact.
  • Set conservative leverage metrics (debt-to-sales/cash-flow thresholds) and enforce them.
  • Prefer company-owned units if your brand’s quality/consistency is the core competitive moat; consider franchising only when you can ensure standards and speed of adoption.
  • Keep founder involvement in core product and operations until the organization reliably replicates your standards.

Sponsors / tools mentioned in the episode (short)

  • Ramp — corporate cards & expense management (cost control).
  • HubSpot — CRM & customer-data integration (spot patterns from data).
  • Function — blood testing and health optimization (energy management).

Final note

This episode is both a tactical playbook for operating a tight, product-led restaurant business and a philosophical case for founder-led, purpose-driven entrepreneurship. Todd’s story—extreme early hustle, uncompromising product standards, hands-on scaling, and learning from near-financial ruin—offers concrete lessons for anyone building a company where quality, culture, and community matter.