Raising Cane’s Billionaire Nearly Doubles Fortune After Record Year

Forbes

Raising Cane’s might not sell much—chicken fingers, crinkle fries, Texas toast, coleslaw and one sauce—but it sells a whole lot of it. Last year, the fast-food chain dished out $5.1 billion worth of the stuff, its best year yet, according to 2024 financials obtained by Forbes.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2025/04/09/raising-canes-billionaire-founder-nearly-doubles-his-fortune-after-record-year/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

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00:00Today on Forbes, Raising Cane's Billionaire Nearly Doubles Fortune After Record Year

00:08Raising Cane's might not sell much — chicken fingers, crinkle fries, Texas toast,

00:13coleslaw, and one sauce — but it sells a whole lot of it. Last year, the fast food chain dished

00:19out $5.1 billion worth of stuff, its best year yet, according to 2024 financials obtained by Forbes.

00:27That's enough to make Todd Graves, the company's founder and CEO, a whole lot richer. Forbes

00:33estimates that Graves has nearly doubled his net worth to $17.2 billion on the back of Cane's

00:39banner results. In 2024, the chain opened more than 100 new restaurants, pushing its total stores to

00:47nearly 900 across 42 states. But what really makes Cane's the envy of the fast food world is just how

00:54many customers flock to each store. The chain, which ranked as the 22nd biggest by revenue on

01:00last year's annual QSR50 report, rang in $5.7 million in sales per location, on average.

01:08That was more than double competitors like Zaxby's and Bojangles, and second among all major quick

01:14service chains, behind only Chick-fil-A. Sales per store climbed to $6.6 million in 2024,

01:22per newly obtained financials, and EBITDA is approaching $1 billion.

01:27For all that, Graves can thank his limited menu, which helps keep costs down — and the chain's

01:33rabid fanbase. Graves named the business after his yellow lab. He leans heavily on social media and

01:40celebrities to promote it, including letting his friend, rapper Post Malone, design his own location

01:46in 2023. Graves has also taken to TV to build his brand and highlight his community engagement efforts,

01:53including through Restaurant Recovery, a Discovery Plus limited series he created

01:58to coach independent eateries through the COVID-19 pandemic.

02:02Last fall, he appeared as a guest shark on two episodes of the hit ABC show Shark Tank,

02:07pitching his marketing savvy to contestants looking for an investor. Graves said during one successful

02:13pitch, quote, I'm a social media machine. I've got a whole team behind me that helps me with these

02:18things, and I live it every day. I'll get your product out there, and I'll help you expand it for

02:23low acquisition costs. Graves has come a long way to Forbes' Billionaires List, which was released at

02:29the beginning of April. A Louisiana native, his idea for a restaurant serving only chicken fingers

02:35was rejected by bankers, investors, and even a college professor, who gave the concept the lowest

02:41grade in the class. So he went to work as a boilermaker in a Los Angeles oil refinery

02:47and spent 20-hour days fishing for sockeye salmon in Alaska to save up the cash to fund his restaurant.

02:53Using his savings and an SBA loan, he opened the first Raising Cane's near Louisiana State

02:59University's campus in 1996. Now a 900-location behemoth, Graves still insists on keeping the menu

03:06limited to just chicken fingers, a handful of sides, a single sauce, and no dessert.

03:13That simple formula has added a lot of cash to Graves' wallet. He owns around 91% of the business,

03:20according to financials obtained by Forbes, and has paid himself at least $250 million in dividends

03:26since 2020, based on a Forbes analysis of the company's debt filings. And there seems to be

03:32plenty more where that came from. Graves recently told Nations Restaurants News, quote,

03:38Our next aspiration is to be a top 10 restaurant brand in the US. Think of the big boys, McDonald's,

03:44Wendy's, Starbucks, Subway, companies that have been open a lot longer than we have.

03:50We are going to hit $10 billion in sales, average unit volumes of $8 million,

03:54and 1,600 restaurants in all major cities and new international locations around the world.

04:01We'll have 150,000 crew members, including 16,000 internal promotes. And we'll give back $100

04:07million to communities. Imagine what we'll be able to give back to our communities once we become a top

04:1310 brand. For full coverage, check out Chase Peterson with Oran's piece on Forbes.com.

04:21This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes. Thanks for tuning in.

04:34This is Kieran Meadows from here.

04:43This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

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