Raising Cane’s secret recipe for scaling, with CEO Todd Graves
Masters of Scale
WaitWhat
4.6 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2026
⏱️ 39 minutes
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Summary
Todd Graves built Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers into a nearly 1,000 restaurant empire worth billions. It’s well known for both its deliciously simple menu and its refreshingly friendly staff. The founder and CEO talks with host Jeff Berman about how he perfected the recipe for success, why he thinks restaurants should be wary of private equity, and much more.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey folks, Jeff Berman here. Exciting news. Applications are now open for the Masters of Scale Summit. |
| 0:08.7 | It's happening October 20th through October 22nd in San Francisco, and it is a really special event. |
| 0:16.5 | Please join our curated community of founders, innovators, and leaders shaping the future. |
| 0:22.6 | Expect ideas that challenge your assumptions and connections that move your business and maybe even your life forward. |
| 0:30.2 | It's an experience that can change literally everything. |
| 0:34.3 | Apply now at Mastersofscale.com slash Apply 26. That's Mastersofscale.com slash apply 26. |
| 0:44.8 | Founders ship faster on deal. Set up payroll for any country and minutes, hire anyone, anywhere, and get visas handled fast. |
| 0:52.9 | So you stay focused on scaling. Deal takes care of onboarding, |
| 0:56.5 | HR, IT, EOR, benefits, and compliance, so your team can grow without borders. It's why more than |
| 1:03.9 | 40,000 fast-growing companies trust Deal to move fast. Visit deal.com slash M-O-S. That's D-E-E-L.com slash M-O-S. |
| 1:15.3 | Hey, listeners, Bob here. If you listen to Rapid Response on Masters of Scale, you may be missing |
| 1:21.6 | half the show because every Friday we release a second rapid response exclusively in the rapid response feed. |
| 1:29.9 | The guests and topics are just as compelling and timely, from Ford's CEO to NASA's |
| 1:35.9 | administrator to the lessons from the devil wears Prada. |
| 1:39.8 | It takes about 10 seconds to find. |
| 1:42.1 | Just search rapid response wherever you listen to podcasts and hit |
| 1:46.1 | follow to make sure you never miss an episode. I hope to see you there. |
| 1:55.0 | I'm going to open my restaurant. I'm going to do it. I'll never give up. And when I tell myself that, and it's a human |
| 2:06.0 | condition, right, the subconscious believes what you tell it. And that's where I could get that |
| 2:11.6 | fuel to keep working hard. It still does today, too. |
| 2:20.1 | This is Masters of Scale. |
| 2:23.9 | I'm Jeff Berman, your host this week on the show, Todd Graves. |
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