Todd Graves and His $10 Billion Chicken Finger Dream

Todd Graves is one of my favorite living entrepreneurs. He's a great example of Charlie Munger's maxim: Find a simple idea and take it seriously. Todd wanted to create a quick service restaurant that only focused on quality chicken finger meals and nothing else. Everyone told him that couldn't possibly work. The college paper that described the idea that would turn into Raising Canes got the lowest grade in the class. Banks wouldn't loan him any money —but nothing could stop Todd from living out his "chicken finger dream." He worked 95 hour weeks as a boilermaker, risked his life on a commercial fishing boat off the coast of Alaska, and scrounged up startup money from his bookie and a guy named Wild Bill. Todd made every mistake in the book, over leveraged himself, almost lost everything and yet he refused to give up or sell out. Today he has over 800 locations, 50,000 employees, and owns 90% of a business that's worth at least $10 billion. Todd's maxim is "Do one thing and do it better than anyone else." Sources: Trading Secrets: Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves reveals his path to building the wildly popular restaurant https://youtu.be/LSHJfOqCLIE?si=ThRaUMNF2Mjfgyr0 Theo Von: Raising Cane’s Founder Todd Graves https://youtu.be/Z7ZZzuUVyhM?si=un7sUpYzPMQHq8kg ---- Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. https://ramp.com/ ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. https://www.foundersnotes.com/ ---- Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book https://davidsenra.com

David Senrahost

Apr 4, 20251h 5mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: April 4, 2025
Duration: 1h 5m
Channel: Founders Podcast
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Todd Graves is one of my favorite living entrepreneurs. He's a great example of Charlie Munger's maxim: Find a simple idea and take it seriously. Todd wanted to create a quick service restaurant that only focused on quality chicken finger meals and nothing else. Everyone told him that couldn't possibly work. The college paper that described the idea that would turn into Raising Canes got the lowest grade in the class. Banks wouldn't loan him any money —but nothing could stop Todd from living out his "chicken finger dream." He worked 95 hour weeks as a boilermaker, risked his life on a commercial fishing boat off the coast of Alaska, and scrounged up startup money from his bookie and a guy named Wild Bill. Todd made every mistake in the book, over leveraged himself, almost lost everything and yet he refused to give up or sell out. Today he has over 800 locations, 50,000 employees, and owns 90% of a business that's worth at least $10 billion. Todd's maxim is "Do one thing and do it better than anyone else." Sources: Trading Secrets: Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves reveals his path to building the wildly popular restaurant https://youtu.be/LSHJfOqCLIE?si=ThRaUMNF2Mjfgyr0 Theo Von: Raising Cane’s Founder Todd Graves https://youtu.be/Z7ZZzuUVyhM?si=un7sUpYzPMQHq8kg ---- Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. https://ramp.com/ ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. https://www.foundersnotes.com/ ---- Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book https://davidsenra.com

SPEAKERS

David Senra
host
Host of the Founders Podcast, known for studying entrepreneurs through biographies and books.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Founders Podcast, featuring David Senra, Todd Graves and His $10 Billion Chicken Finger Dream explores todd Graves Built Raising Cane's by Doing One Thing Relentlessly Senra presents Todd Graves as a living entrepreneur he admires, who owns over 90% of a chicken-finger chain he says is worth at least $10 billion, and ties him to the idea of finding a simple idea and taking it seriously.

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