A chicken empire’s CEO returns to LA with $22B, a new mansion and the biggest celebs in Hollywood as his friends

Hollywood loves a new free-spending tycoon in town — from Texas oil-drill heir Howard Hughes in the 1920s to Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos who bought MGM in 2022.

The latest whale to make a big splash around these parts is Todd Graves, founder and CEO of chicken finger empire Raising Cane’s, which he started in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at age 22.

Now worth $22 billion according to Forbes, Graves quietly bought a $23 million mansion in cash next door to his close pal, Leo DiCaprio, in the Hollywood Hills’ elite Bird Streets enclave. (Real estate site North Hillcrest was first to report on the sale, which got little, if any, pick-up in August.)

Graves’ home once belonged to Sam Nazarian, the CEO of SBE, the hospitality brand behind the SLS Hotel chain as well as Hyde. (Hyde Sunset was LA’s hottest celebrity haunt of the aughts, as favored by Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Ashlee Simpson. The LA Times wrote a 2006 profile on the place with the headline, “Trust us, there’s no way you’re on the list.”)

Graves’ new home also appeared on HBO’s “Entourage,” and we hear it’s going to now be the site of some truly A-list bashes.

America’s richest restaurateur — with 900 Raising Cane’s locations in 42 states — returns to town after once reportedly working as a “boilermaker” in LA, “manning welding equipment and blow torches at oil refineries,” according to Forbes. 

Graves hasn’t backed any films, but he does reportedly write many of his chains’ campaigns, and as a kid was, “daydreaming of moving to Hollywood and pushing a broom to get his foot in the door at a movie studio,” Forbes wrote.

He has also been amassing an army of celeb party pals. Graves took over and redesigned an entire hotel — including 131 rooms and suites — for the Super Bowl to host a weekend of events in San Francisco.

His guests included Alix Earle, Jessica Alba, Emma Roberts, Machine Gun Kelly, Cardi B and Logan Paul, while Jamie Foxx, Orlando Bloom and Kevin Costner were among the A-listers in his five custom Raising Cane’s Super Bowl suites.

Like Hyde back in the day, DiCaprio and his BFF Tobey Maguire were seen grooving at one Raising Cane’s Bowl bash while Ice Cube performed on stage.
(The celebs all got custom merch from an exclusive “letterman jacket gifting station,” plus limited-edition hats, shirts and hoodies.)

We’ve also reported how Graves’ chicken brand previously paid DiCaprio’s “One Battle After Another” co-star Teyana Taylor to head to the chain’s Hollywood location after winning at the Golden Globes, and has also had Cynthia Erivo and Halle Berry pop by his fast-food joints after the Oscars and Met Gala.

Past billionaires who’ve ventured to Hollywood have included Jones Apparel Group mogul-turned-producer Sidney Kimmel, who bought the old Johnny Carson estate in Malibu for $46M in 2007, and supermarket magnate Ron Burkle, who owned Michael Jackson’s infamous Neverland estate. Burkle is now behind the Soho House clubs and has dabbled in the biz with Harvey Weinstein and Red Hot Chili Peppers rocker Anthony Keidis.

Graves could be Hollywood’s latest slice of fried gold.