Raising Cane's founder Todd Graves talks being king of Super Bowl LIX Parade

Todd Graves, the founder of the successful restaurant brand Raising Cane’s, will have a big role during the Super Bowl LIX weekend as he will be king of the Super Bowl Host Committee Parade in New Orleans. Graves recently spoke to On3 about being part of the parade, the first of its kind in Super Bowl history.

“It’s set up with a lot of people that have just done really good work for years now, getting ready for
this parade, for the Super Bowl,” Graves told On3. “(New Orleans) hosted so many Super Bowls in the past. It’s really neat to be part of this experience, and a top-notch committee that’s throwing this, I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

Graves is honored to be part of the event but asked the committee if they wanted to get a “huge celebrity” from Louisiana “like Shaquille O’Neal” to be king instead of him. The committee told Graves that he was the right person because they “really want to promote New Orleans and Louisiana businesses,” and Graves is a “representative of that” since Raising Cane’s started in Louisiana and has grown into 900 locations worldwide.

But since this is the first Super Bowl Host Committee Parade, what can fans expect from the event? “It is going to be an amazing parade,” Graves revealed. “My friend Barry Kearn, Kearn Studios, they do all the big Mardi Gras parades. These are going to be big, beautiful Mardi Gras floats.”

Todd Graves loves the Super Bowl in New Orleans

Graves added: “And with all these floats, we stock it with all kind of throws. I mean, I myself have probably 100,000 different fun custom beads and doubloons to throw out, and they’ll be running through the French Quarter. And New Orleans is always fun, especially on the weekends, and Super Bowl events are always fun, especially during the weekends. With everything going around it, when you mix the two, New
Orleans and Super Bowl, it’s just going to be a lot of excitement.”

Along with the parade, which will happen the day before the Super Bowl (Sunday, Feb. 8, 2025), New Orleans will host multiple events leading up to the big game. Graves’ focus might be on his role as parade king, but he will also enjoy the big game and what New Orleans has to offer during Super Bowl week with some special guests.

“I’m going to bring in some great celebrity people to come in and enjoy the game, but also they’ll post
on their social media and people will talk about the game and how great things are in New Orleans,” Graves stated. “I’m going to take my guests to all the great things the city has to offer. We’re going to listen to some jazz, we’re going to have some amazing New Orleans food. We’re going to throw beads from balconies of Bourbon Street, and we’re going to ride in the parade. And so, I’ll be entertaining a group of people. I like it when they’re not only just because they’re friends and have good time, but I like them out posting on social media how fun New Orleans is.”

What to expect from Raising Cane’s in 2025

Being king of the Super Bowl LXI parade is a great way for Todd Graves to start 2025. But he is also very excited for what’s in store for Raising Cane’s next year. “2025, what I hope to do is continue to grow another a hundred restaurants throughout the country, and we’re going to keep looking for some of these flagship-type locations that we have in Times Square, South Beach, Broadway and Nashville,” Graves said.

“Hoping to look at other places in the country because we have 900 locations, but there’s a lot of places we’re not, right?”I like these flagship-type locations that have a lot of tourism because then people from, when you’re not in Montana yet, but people travel to, they travel to Times Square, they travel to Nashville, Broadway, on the Broadway, things like that, they can try Cane’s and get excited for Cane’s. So, I’m looking forward to more continued growth like that.”