Todd Graves Says He Trades Coleslaw for Toast at Raising Cane's
todd graves says he does not eat the coleslaw that still sits on every Raising Cane's menu, and he usually swaps it out for toast instead. The founder and CEO said his Box Combo comes without the side dish, with extra toast and extra sauce. For customers, that makes the chain's most fixed menu item sound a little more flexible than the company’s no-change reputation suggests.
Graves' Box Combo order
"I don't like coleslaw, man," Graves said in an Instagram interview with Joe Bonham, adding, "that's why you can trade it out!" He also said, "Every once in a while, I get somebody that likes it, but I'm not crazy about coleslaw, so trade it out for toast."
That order is his go-to Box Combo: no coleslaw, extra toast and extra sauce. The detail is small, but it comes from the man who built the chain around a very short menu and still eats around one of its core items.
1996 roots and 30 years of coleslaw
Raising Cane's was founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1996, and coleslaw has stayed on the menu for 30 years. The company chose it because it needed a vegetable-based item to go with the chicken, toast and french fries, and because the side fit its southern roots.
The result is a menu oddity: Graves says he is not a fan of a side dish his own restaurant keeps serving. That mismatch matters because the chain has refused to add or remove any item on its menu, even after Graves called the prospect of adding more food options to the national menu "blasphemous" in a 2021 exclusive interview with Mashed.
Raising Cane's menu stays fixed
Raising Cane's fans online are notoriously low on the restaurant's coleslaw, which makes Graves' preference less surprising than the menu's staying power. The chain's stance leaves customers with one clear option at the counter: keep the coleslaw or trade it out, the same way Graves does.
For anyone ordering from the chain, the practical takeaway is simple. The founder's own routine shows that the Box Combo can be customized within the limits the company already allows, but the menu itself is not moving. Coleslaw remains there, and toast remains the swap Graves wants.
