Marketing Currents - Business and Marketing Current Events

How the Raising Cane’s founder, Todd Graves, turned a lousy college grade into a billion-dollar fast-food business

While attending Louisiana State University in the mid-1990s, Todd Graves wrote a business plan for a fast-food restaurant that sold only fried chicken tenders.

Click here to read the story at businessinsider.com.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is entrepreneurship?
  2. What is a business plan?
  3. Why is a business plan important to a startup?
  4. What is perseverance?
  5. Why do you think perseverance is an important characteristic for any aspiring entrepreneur?
  6. What can you learn about perseverance as it relates to starting a business from this news story?
  7. What is financing?
  8. Why is it important to a new business?
  9. What are some of the different ways a startup can generate funding?
  10. How did Todd Graves find the funding to start Raising Cane’s?
  11. How did he come up with the name Raising Cane’s?
  12. Do you think the name of the business is important? Why or why not?
  13. Why is it important for a business or brand to have fans?
  14. How might that demonstrate brand loyalty?
  15. What are fans of Raising Cane’s called?
  16. Why do you think the company is so secretive about the recipe for Cane’s Sauce? Could that have anything to do with marketing?
  17. Why do you think Raising Cane’s is one of the fastest growing fast food chains?
  18. Do you think there is a risk associated with growing too fast? Why or why not?
  19. Based on what you learned from this news story, has social media had any impact on the success of Raising Cane’s? Why or why not?
  20. Why is leadership important to the success of a business?
  21. What does the fact that Graves gave up his salary during the pandemic to save jobs say about his leadership?
Chris Lindauer
After working for nearly a decade in professional sports, Chris Lindauer, formed Sports Career Consulting to provide unique sports business education opportunities in and out of the classroom. In the eighteen years (and counting) that followed, Chris has inspired thousands of students to pursue their passions and explore the career of their dreams. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, two teenage daughters and their dog.

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