Graves: Raising Cane's kept identical menu when entering the Middle East
Todd Graves · Raising Cane's CEO Todd Graves: Building a billion-dollar brand on one menu item | Masters of Scale · May 8, 2026 · at 26:24
Todd Graves, founder and CEO of Raising Cane's, explains his refusal to localize or expand the restaurant's menu when opening international locations.
0:00 / 0:17exact quote · 17.5s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“Even when we went to the Middle East, we kept the product exactly the same. We kept the same thing, and there was a lot of talk there about, there's another sauce they have there. It's like a mayo base and garlic and all this stuff. It's the most popular sauce. I'm like, they will come to love cane sauce, and we gotta stick to our guns. And sure enough, they love cane sauce much as that other sauce they got.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Todd Graves
Graves: Mastering a single menu item is a recipe for success
“Being to execute on one thing, and do it better than anybody else, Is gonna be a recipe for success, and it ended up being there.”
Founders should avoid selling restaurant brands to private equity
“And the reason why I try to talk these business founders into not selling to private equity is, and look, they're not all bad. And so, I'm not talking about all of them, but a lot of them are. And look, if you have, Investors, if you have shareholders that the…”
Raising Cane's bought back all franchises to achieve 100% company ownership
“So, we bought them back, they're happy to, and I'm like, a hundred percent, Company restaurant operations.”
Graves: Raising Cane's maintains frozen chicken reserves for outbreak contingencies
“So, for me, as you have, you know, we do fresh chicken, but we have frozen supply to get us through any kind of outbreak.”