How a Failed Class Project Created Raising Cane's

Most business plans are forgotten. Some are laughed out of the room. In the case of Raising Cane's, the idea was graded at the bottom of the class.

Todd Graves was a finance major at LSU in the mid-1990s. For one project, he proposed a restaurant that would serve nothing but chicken fingers. No burgers. No salads. Just fried chicken fingers, fries, and sauce. His professor gave him the lowest grade in the class. The concept was called unworkable, too narrow, doomed to fail.

Graves refused to let the idea die. After graduation, he went to work in Alaska as a commercial fisherman and oil refinery laborer. The goal was simple: save enough cash to make the restaurant happen. He returned to Baton Rouge with startup money in hand and partnered with friend Craig Silvey, who had helped refine the original business plan.

In 1996, they opened the first Raising Cane's near the LSU campus. The location was small, the menu was simple, and the lines were long. Word spread quickly. What critics had dismissed as too limited became the core selling point: focus on doing one thing well. Chicken fingers, fries, coleslaw, Texas toast, and Cane's Sauce. That was it.

The company grew fast. Within a decade, Raising Cane's expanded across Louisiana and into Texas. By the 2010s, it was a national chain. By 2024, it had more than 700 locations worldwide and annual revenue measured in the billions. Graves, the student who received the lowest grade in his class for a "bad" idea, became one of the most successful restaurant founders in America.

For perspective: Raising Cane's was ranked among the fastest-growing restaurant chains in the United States, with systemwide sales topping $3 billion by 2022. Average unit volume exceeded $4 million per store, placing it in the top tier of quick-service restaurants nationwide.

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