Braanaas established the company Firda Settefisk in Gulen Municipality in 1986. Since then he has been involved in various companies in the fish farming business,[2] and is founder and owner of Firda Seafood [no].[5]
He is listed on the magazine Kapital's list of the 400 wealthiest persons in Norway.[5]
In 2007 he acquired a statue of king Olav V, sculpted by Knut Steen, after the statue had been rejected by the Oslo Municipality. The statue was subsequently erected in Skjerjehamn [no] on the island of Sandøyna in Gulen Municipality and unveiled on 4 August 2007.[6]
In December 2021, Braanaas announced that he would change his legal address to Bø i Vesterålen, drawn by the Northern Norwegian municipality's low local taxes.[7]