Culvers
 |
|
| Private | |
| Industry | Fast casual restaurants |
| Founded | 1984 Sauk City, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Founders | Craig and Lea Culver |
| Headquarters | Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, U.S. |
|
Number of locations
|
611 (as of March 8, 2017) |
|
Area served
|
United States (mainly the Midwest) |
|
Key people
|
Joe Koss (CEO) |
| Products | Frozen custard, Butterburgers |
| Website | www |
Culver Franchising System, Inc., doing business as Culver's, is a privately owned and operated fast casual restaurant chain that operates primarily in the Midwestern United States. The first Culver’s opened in 1984 in Sauk City, Wisconsin. As of March 8, 2017, the chain had 611 restaurants across the United States.
Sauk City restaurateur George Culver started with an A&W on Phillips Boulevard (U.S. Highway 12) in 1961. On July 18, 1984, along with wife Ruth, son Craig, and daughter-in-law Lea, he opened the first Culver’s Frozen Custard and ButterBurgers.
In 1987, the Culvers were approached about franchising a restaurant in nearby Richland Center. The Culvers agreed, granting the franchisee a loose licensing agreement, charging no fees or royalties. Because the franchisee had invested very little of his own money, it was a simple matter for him to walk away a year later when he decided he no longer wanted to be in the restaurant business.
As a result of this experience, the Culvers established a set of standard franchising procedures that form the basis for those currently used by Culver Franchising System, Inc. Three years later, they tried again in Baraboo and business quickly doubled. Soon after, the increased recognition that the second store earned this small-town chain prompted expansion into the Madison and Milwaukee areas.
In 1993, Culver's was still a small, local chain, with only 14 restaurants across southern Wisconsin. Culver’s first restaurants outside Wisconsin opened in Buffalo, Minnesota, in September 1995, Roscoe, Illinois in December 1995, and Dubuque, Iowa in November 1996. In February 1997, the company opened the first Culver’s outside the Midwest in Texas.
...
Wikipedia