Exclusive | The moment Todd Graves knew athletes slinging Raising Canes was a winner

After the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in the World Series, it was a near-inevitability that one of their players would be doing a promotional appearance at Raising Cane’s.Over the last several years, it’s developed into a rite of passage for sports champions to show up at the chicken finger chain and work a shift — and this week Dodgers outfielder Kiké Hernández became the latest in a list that has included Al Horford, Angel Reese, Ja’Marr Chase, Livvy Dunne, Katie Ledecky and many more.

Raising Cane’s co-founder and CEO Todd Graves, who joined the cast of ABC’s “Shark Tank” this season, spoke exclusively to The Post about how the restaurant’s intertwinement with sports has helped fuel its growth.Raising Cane’s was founded in Baton Rouge in 1996 and its first foray into sports advertising came through a deal with LSU’s baseball team in 2003.

“As soon as I could afford it, I did — same with the Saints,” Graves said.With LSU, Graves reasoned that he could get the best bang for his buck buying a sponsorship in the outfield — because the ad would draw impressions on local news when they showed home run highlights.“It was like $5,000 and I thought I’d get a could cost-per-impression.

We didn’t have a lot of advertising dollars so I had to stretch them,” Graves said.“We saw loyalty that came with supporting LSU, the Saints and the players.” The idea of having star athletes come work shifts at the chain happened serendipitously.Raising Cane’s tabbed James Harden for an appearance in 2012 at a store opening outside Oklahoma City, where he was playing at the time.

“And he leaned out the drive-thru window and they took a picture, and I was like, ‘Oh man, that’s good,'” Graves said.“If I can start getting people to serve and do the drive-thru, it would humanize them.

Nobody had done it.We’ve done it so much and had so much success that now you’ll see other businesses do it too.” Graves said that the idea �...