Graves wants Cane’s downtown

Raising Cane’s founder and CEO Todd Graves says his company is committed to opening a downtown restaurant in the Richoux Building on Florida Boulevard and Third Street. As Daily Report previously reported, the chicken finger chain is negotiating with businessman Mike Crouch—who has signed a purchase agreement to acquire the 11,000-square-foot building from attorney Danny McGlynn—to open a restaurant in the 8,000-square-foot ground floor space. Though neither the sale of the building nor the lease agreement between Crouch and Cane’s is finalized, Graves says he has long dreamed of opening a Cane’s downtown. “I want to be downtown,” he says, adding that it will be a challenge because of the business model fast-food restaurants follow. “We do a high volume on very tiny margins,” he says. “So I’m just hoping to break even. … But that doesn’t matter because it’s where I want to be.” Graves notes that Cane’s corporate headquarters is also located downtown, in II City Plaza, though its operations center is based outside of Dallas. Cane’s opened its 150th restaurant earlier this year; the Richoux building outlet would be its first downtown restaurant, Graves says. —Stephanie Riegel