Todd Graves touts “One Love” as his company’s motto. But the founder of Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers loves more than chicken:  dogs.

Graves and Cane’s sponsored a new dog park in Kiroli Park in West Monroe. The Raising Cane’s Dog Park in Kiroli is the seventh of its kind and will be open all week long from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Graves and Cane II cut the ribbon for the park.

“One of the cool things about naming your restaurant after your dog is you get to take her everywhere you go,” Graves said.

Courtney Hornsby said the park will attract visitors to the area.

“The dog park is really a jewel for the Ouachita Parish area.  It’s the only dog park in north Louisiana, which really sets us apart,” said Hornsby, President of the West Monroe-West Ouachita Chamber of Commerce.

Though Cane’s proved to be a success, it faced obstacles along the way.

Graves set out with his business partner in 1996 to open the first Cane’s but got a hearty “no” from every banker in Baton Rouge.

Not willing to give up, Graves became a roughneck working as a boilermaker for quick cash. After that he battled Alaskan waters as a commercial fisherman.

“This was the first really encouraging group I met,” said Graves of the guys he worked with in the refineries.  “They knew my dream, and the interesting thing is they called me ‘the chicken man.’” 

The “chicken man” finally had the  cash to finance his business.  He only had to borrow $5,000 from the bank. Then in 1996 Cane’s was born. 

Cane’s almost became Sockeye’s Chicken Fingers, after the name of the salmon he fished for in Alaska. But a friend of Graves said that was a stupid name, and he suggested naming it after Graves’ dog.

Graves keeps his memories of the first Cane’s alive.  He doesn’t forget what it was like when he worked every position at Cane’s 1.

“We think he had a wonderful story that provides a lot of inspiration to small business owners in this area who are struggling,” Hornsby said.