The Culver Family Opened Their First Restaurant in 1984 — Now Culver's Has 1,000 Locations. What's Its Secret? The Wisconsin-based burger franchise endears itself to the communities it serves.
By Kim Kavin
This story appears in the January 2025 issue of BIZ Experiences. Subscribe »
To view our entire 2025 Franchise 500 list, including category rankings, click HERE
Craig and Lea Culver — along with Craig's parents, George and Ruth — opened the first Culver's restaurant in 1984 in the family's hometown of Sauk City, Wisconsin. Their ButterBurgers and Fresh Frozen Custard were hits, leading to the first successful Culver's franchise opening in 1990 in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Business has only gotten better. In 2024, Culver's began celebrating its 40th anniversary — and now it's celebrating its seventh year in a row in the Franchise 500's Top 10.
"After three record years of sales and traffic growth, outpacing the industry trends, we are on pace for yet another record year," says Rick Silva, president and CEO of Culver's. The company opened nearly 60 new locations in 2024, and expected to open restaurant number 1,000 by December. "Third-party delivery is contributing to the sales and traffic growth," Silva says, "but even our base business sales and traffic numbers [not counting delivery] are materially outperforming the category."
Related: Here's how we determined the annual Franchise 500 ranking — and what we learned from the data.
Culver's digital strategy has been especially impactful. For the past few years, it has been building a digital team, upgrading its technology stack, and rolling out a consumer app offering "CurdSide" service — named for the brand's beloved cheese curds. The app makes ordering takeout seamless, and can be used to order to-go items from your table when already dining in.
"Our menu work has also helped drive our results, with the introduction of a new premium bacon and additional limited-time-offer product promotions," Silva says.
Culver's may not be as big as other brands on our Top 10, but it uses its smaller footprint to its advantage — engaging deeply in the communities where it operates. Franchisees contribute to their local areas through fundraising events, donations, and sponsorships. At the corporate level, the Culver's Foundation works to provide people with basic needs and to promote youth and family development. Its "Thank You Farmers Project," which started in 2013, supports agricultural education programs to encourage smart farming.
In 2025, Culver's plans to continue growing across its 26-state footprint. There are opportunities as far west as Idaho and as far east as Florida. In 2024, it received Satisfaction Awards from Franchise Business Review in multiple categories, including Top Franchises, Top Food Franchises, and Top Franchises for Women.
"Our focus is to partner with existing and new owner-operators to help them grow their business in a healthy way," Silva says. But there are opportunities for everyone. "We have a mentee program that provides team members and managers in our restaurants a path to ownership."
Related: Explore the full 2025 Franchise 500 list, complete with category rankings.
