Happy Birthday Culver's!

In honor of Culver's 40th birthday, Robin talks with Craig Culver about the beloved franchise's history, current offerings, and what they're doing to celebrate. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Good morning. I'm Robin Colberten.This is Madison Forum. So when I
say welcome to Delicious, one namecomes to mind. Culverse joining me this
morning, Founder Craig Culver, comingoff of a busy month in July celebrates
so much love for Culverse this pastmonth, celebrating its fortieth year anniversary.
Craig, thank you so much forjoining me this morning. You are definitely

(00:23):
a fan fave when it comes toyour delicious food. Well, thank you
for that and good to be onyour show. Yeaking forward to the full
conversation. So let's go back tothe beginning. Was it July eighteenth,
nineteen eighty four, Yeah, younailed it. It happened to be a
Wednesday. As a matter of fact, why we opened that on Wednesday?

(00:46):
Who knows. It's forty years ago, a long time ago. But yeah.
We converted an aw drive in restaurantthat we had once owned, and
we got it in March of nineteeneighty four. We had piled it on
a land contract and the prior,the owners we sold it to, they

(01:08):
were not happy and they weren't makingit and they handed it back to us,
and that was our opportunity to dosomething different, and I was a
big fan still in yesterday a frozenCustard. I went to school at uw
Oshcosh and then Oshcosh is leon FrozenCustard, and that's a place I was

(01:34):
frequent once in a while, andI had some free time there in school
and had a vanilla cone, andI fell in love with Frozen Custer.
And the butterburger came about over aconversation at a supper club my family owned,
speaking to a friend of mine thatgrew up the Milwaukee and he grew

(01:56):
up by a little drive in restaurantcalled the Milky Way. In this conversation,
he told me they served a butterburger. So I didn't invent the
butter burger, you know, Ikind of in some fashion, I kind
of just took the name and andbut butter Burger, Frozen Custer. You
know. I thought to myself,how can you possibly go wrong? And

(02:17):
so we decided to defranchise the NWrestaurant converted to Culver's Frozen Custard and butter
Burgers right there in Sac City,and the original location still sits. A
son and daughter in law, granddaughterlive uh Furrid, Sac but I'm up

(02:37):
that way all the time and gobuy Culver's uh quite often so and uh,
you do just a heck of abusiness, that's for sure. So
you didn't invent the butter burger,but perhaps perfected it. Well, you
know, we're not the only onethat sells the butter burger, although we
have trademarked, but there's a coupleothers in here in the state of Wisconsin

(03:01):
that uh sollid butterburger. We alldo it a little differently. We butter
the bun and grill the bun.Uh. The others do something a little
bit different. But uh, yeah, it's become it's become a signature item
big time at Culvers. And it'syeah, I know, did you You're

(03:28):
not like the big Mac guy thoughyou don't have one every day, do
you. I'm not saying no tothat. I have read about him.
He was on this program a fewmonths back. Quite an interesting character,
that's for sure. We know,Craig. Why do you think that uh
before you guys took the lease backand took over that old A and W
side, Why why do you supposethat one back in my day growing up
before Culver's anw you couldn't go wrong. What was not connecting there? I

(03:54):
don't want to say anything negative aboutany competitor whatsoever. And we just the
Culver family is uh. You know, we've had supper clubs, we've had
a resort. We've always kind ofdone our own thing. Although we were
franchisees of A and W starting wayback in nineteen sixty one. But when

(04:16):
we got the and W back,we just said, let's do something different.
And like I said, frozen custardand butterburgers. How can you go
wrong? But what I found out, Robin, is you can go wrong.
We just about didn't make it.So really, yeah, you came

(04:36):
wrong. That's true. That's true. What made you a banker? Robin?
We had a banker that believed inus. He believed in the family,
had done business with us in thepast with other ventures that that my
family did, and you know,he had a part of the concept of
Culver's. He really didn't care.It was the Culver family that I believed

(04:59):
in somehow or another. We survivedthat first year, losing lots of money,
but we survived, and here weare today. Yeah, let's talk
about your parents, George and Ruththey have both since passed on. Correct.
Oh yeah, Mom would be onehundred years old. As matter of

(05:20):
fact, July twenty one was herbirthday and she would have turned one hundred
on that date. And Dad wouldbe one hundred and two if they if
he was still here. But youwould have loved him. I mean they
were hard working people, not collegeeducated. Just my dad was a true

(05:45):
entrepreneur. He's a risk taker.My mom was just the opposite. But
the two together were a great blend, great team in running businesses. And
one of the things I talked aboutso much with our operators, with our
managers, is is how mom andDad operated the business. They were And

(06:05):
I didn't, you know, reallyget this till later when I started growing
my career. But Mom and Dadwere so good at forming a great team,
surrounding themselves with people that knew howto say please and thank you and
my pleasure and meant it. Andthat's the kind of people they surrounded themselves

(06:25):
with. And you know, andevery business that they had it worked.
It worked. Yeah. Quality offood, I mean, that was my
dad. You got to have thebest stuff, you know, you got
to have the highest quality. Peoplemay have to pay more for it,
but we're going to have the bestAnd that came from my dad and my

(06:46):
mom. She was the hospitality queen. When people walked into a whatever restaurant
we had at that time, includingCulver's when we opened there, she was
she was greeting them with a bigsmile, and people thought Mom knew them
forever, but she but she surecame across that way. They were a

(07:12):
couple that you would have loved.Yeah, I bet they were. You
could tell that they're bloved, Craigjust going through uh Sox City Prairie Do
Sac. They have many buildings.Is it the library or uh center that's
named after them? And there there'sa lot of tributes to your parents.
Well, uh yeah. We namedthe library and in part to fact after

(07:40):
Mom the roof Culver uh Community Library, and we gave that building uh to
the village for the purpose of thelibrary. And then doc City wanted to
build a new or we're looking forspace for a new library, and I
helped them out with that. Andsince Mom had a library, Dad needed

(08:03):
one too. So my Dad's gota library and Tuk City And the funny
part about that is, you know, I don't ever remember my parents visiting
a library in my life, andnow they have a library named after that.
Oh, that's that's awesome. Well, they probably didn't have time running

(08:24):
the supper club. Since you've beenable to walk and toddle around, I'm
guessing that you grew up in thefamily business, right right, Well that
you're absolutely right, they didn't havetime. They you know, in every
restaurant family, hearing this will benodding their head. Yet you know,

(08:46):
you're glued to that business and inorder to make it work and be successful,
you've got to be there. Andmom and dad were there, and
of course my brother and sister wewere involved as well in a big,
big way, and so we werethere as well. And you know what,

(09:07):
but we uh it was it wasdifferent, you know than all my
friends. And it seemed like myfriends were out having fun with their family
doing going to Devil's Lake or whatever, and we were we were making burgers
and serving people like that. Sobut we had fun doing it. And
sure when when the bell rang atthe end of the day, uh,

(09:28):
there was always some fun there too. So it was a I love growing
up with my family in the business. I not everybody enjoys that or can
do that. But uh, wewere quite successful at it. Yeah,
you sound like, you know,like farm kids that have known growing.

(09:48):
I mean, that's just that's partof your lifestyle, honestly, Robin.
I compare it to a farm familyall the time. Everybody goes to work,
you know, And we bought andthen mom bought the end w in
nineteen sixty one. Kurt, mybrother, Kurt was nine, I was
eleven, my sister was fourteen.Guess what we all went to work might

(10:11):
have been illegal for the eleven yearold and nine year old, but it
didn't matter. We were all working, pitching and helping the family out.
Well, that's probably why the Wisconsinfarmer plays a huge role, I would
say in Culver's success, you've creditedWisconsin farmers and their products, and of
course your dad's feelings about using thebest quality and all you get it right

(10:37):
from your own backyard. Well,my mom grew up on a dairy farm
in central Wisconsin. Then pick AtWisconsin. I know you don't know where
that is, I don't. It'sright in between Rippin and Oshkesh on Highway
forty four. And she grew upin a dairy farm. My dad worked

(10:58):
for years for Wisconsin dairies as afield man, putting farms on grade,
a kind of an inspector type personfor them. And they're in nineteen sixty
one. I mentioned that date alot or that time. They had decided
he wanted to get into business forhimself, and that's when he took the

(11:18):
chance, the risk of purchasing thatlittle A and W and seven sixteen filter
full of Ardock City, Wisconsin onHighway twelve. It's been pretty good to
us, Yes, it has.And boy, you've gone nationwide. What
are you Culver's locations now? Isit twenty six states? Yeah, we're

(11:39):
in twenty six states and we're kindof glued to those states right now.
We've got plenty of room to growin those twenty six states before we before
we open up any other states.But yeah, we just opened a restaurant
numbered nine and eighty. Who wouldhave thought forty years ago that people asked

(12:03):
me, did you have a grandplan? Yeah? I wish, I
wish I did, but no,A lot of luck along the way,
and you know, like my parents, we've surrounded ourselves with a lot of
wonderful people over the many years,and that's why we've grown with a success.
We've grown great people. Yeah,and great employees, you know,

(12:28):
the front counter staff, and eventhough in the kitchen it's just a it's
just a very nice, mannerly environment. I was at a Culver's. My
sister lives in southern California and shewill drive to Arizona to get to the
closest Culvers location. That's about fourhours from her. And I was with

(12:52):
friends in Arizona and she, mysister, drove over and we went.
I can't I can't remember if itwas. I think Phoenix Areas where we
went, and it was the samesort. It was just like we were
back in Wisconsin. There's all theinformation about the Culver family, the politeness
of the fast food workers. Soyeah, it's like I said, you

(13:16):
know, you surround yourself with theright people, people that know how to
say please and thank you. Anddo we have challenges. Of course,
we have challenges, but all inall, we've got great teams in our
Culver's restaurants. But it has tostart with a leader. You know,
positive leaders, enthusiastic leaders, peoplewith energy. They surround themselves with light

(13:41):
people. They're generally the people theythround themselves are mirror images of themselves,
and the same that's true with negativepeople. They thrown themselves with them.
We don't say at culvers, that'snot who we are and want to people.
So, yeah, we're in thepeople I say that many times,
Robin. You know, we sellburgers and frozen custers and cheese girts and

(14:05):
fries, but you know what,we're really in the people business. I've
said that a million times, andthat goes for any business. In my
eyes, everybody's in the people business. And those that are best at that,
they are the success stories, theyare the winners out there. And

(14:26):
in order to keep it going intothe next forty years, we got to
keep that same mindset. And i'mI am my team is we are focused
on our people, taking care ofour people, and if we ever lose
that mindset, then got help us. You know, I read or or

(14:50):
saw an interview on TV or readquotes from you that you never never even
gave it a second thought. Somecompanies they get big, they moved to
corporate headquarters out of state, oryou know, someplace maybe fancy or shining,
or but it's never even been athought for you to move culvers from
are you are you kidding me?Why would I do that? We're in

(15:13):
beautiful prairie do sack with Scott onWisconsin River. Our support center is you
couldn't ask for a more beautiful spot. And yeah, people have said to
me, well, how do youattract talent? We attract talent. We
attract talent. It's a great placeto live. And Madison is, you

(15:35):
know what, twenty some minutes away. Again, and many of our people,
our executive team, you know,some live in Wanna Keys, some
live in Bearaboo, some live inSockburry, some live in Middleton. But
it's a great area. I'm aWisconsin I'm a Badger through and through.

(15:58):
Well, we've tried to take that. We've tried to take that to the
other states we do business with,you know, from Wisconsin with love.
And I was servous about that atfirst. You know, some stay well,
you know, that's a little arroganton their part, but it really
isn't. It's it's you've heard theterm Wisconsin nice and in Midwest nights.

(16:22):
Well, we try and take thatto the different states we do business.
And the SAYA was most worried aboutwith Texas because you know, we have
a number of restaurants there because youknow, they loved their state too,
and why shouldn't they. But it'sworked out quite quite well, quite well,

(16:45):
can I you know? Do you? And by the way, you're
a badger through and through? Ibelieve you. And evidence there didn't you
just call your is your dog's name, Bucky? Yeah? Yeah, there
you go. Yeah, case caseclosed. You are a badger through and
through. You don't you don't actuallyhave a badger, do you? No?

(17:06):
No, he's just kidding. Butnow like in states like Texas and
other states where you bring a tasteof Wisconsin or Wisconsin nice, do you
have the Friday night fish fry?Like it? Because your fish fry too
gets accolades. It's up there withwith a Butterberger. I've heard from so
many people in the past, youknow, because even though you're not you're
fast food, but you're fast casualdining that people aren't really expecting a traditional,

(17:30):
really delicious fish fry. And boyyou you got one. Well I
thank you for that. And that'syou know that stems from our separate club
experiences Friday night fish fry, andbut we have it every day, but
I'll tell you what on Friday nightsand yes, it's in every state.
Our sandwich and our fish dinners arein every place we do business, and

(18:00):
we do quite well with it,not just on Friday, but every day.
We do very well with it.And like I said, it stems
from the supper club business that wedid for many years. It is the
batter for the fish. Is thatlike an old Culver family recipe or has
it changed over the years or doyou stick with what has served you well?

(18:25):
No, it's I can't say it'san old Culver recipe. It's one
we've started with though back forty yearsago, and uh, and we've stuck
with it. And yeah, likeour coslaves are are they they're battered to
order and then they then they goin the deep fror and and our you

(18:47):
know, our coastline that goes alongwith it, our fries and our mashed
potatoes. It's it's a great meal, it is. It's a great let's
talk to Is it just Kurdburger orcruder Berger? I don't care what you
call it. Well, from whatwas born in April, Fool's joke has

(19:08):
become a cult favorite now it's notalways on the menu, right, is
it back? Just limited times?I think we bring it out in October,
I believe is when we bring itout. And the initial time we
brought it out was for one dayonly, and we sold out of it

(19:30):
in a couple hours. Yeah,poor people, you know, that came
in at one o'clock or two o'clockand yet they couldn't get one. So
then the next year we decided tospan that too a couple of weeks.
And I'm guessing we're going to dothe same thing come October. I'm not
quite sure what the dates are onthat, but it's it's it's popular,

(19:53):
and it's really good, it reallyis, Yeah, and I guess you
don't want to have it on themenu always kind of takes away some of
the thrill of when it is available, you know, it does when you
when you know, that's why wecall what we call lt os or limited
time offers. It it throws alittle, uh what interest in the menu?

(20:18):
Oh, you brought that back oryou brought yeah, and then they
say, well, why can't weget that again? And so, but
you like to keep the menu interesting, and that means once in a while
we might add something to the menufull time, and sometimes we might take

(20:42):
something away. But that's really ahard thing to do because when you take
something away, it becomes all allof a sudden, it seems like everybody
their favorite. Yeah, and theytell you that they weren't ordering a lot
of it before, but now theywant. It's tough managing the menu,
it really is. I bet,can you what's one of the last things

(21:04):
that that you did take off themenu? Do do you recall or I
suppose it? Well, there there'sa number of things, and and some
go quite quite a ways bad.The hot dog, for example, hot
dog like we had hot dogs outfrom the get go, and uh,

(21:25):
well we haven't had them. Let'ssee, probably in probably in thirteen fourteen,
fifteen years something like that, wehad we had fried chicken bone and
fried chicken. Now it was outstanding, and uh it's not I didn't agree
with it, but a lot ofthe operators wanted it out of the restaurants

(21:48):
for a number of reasons, andand uh we uh, we abided by
that, and we took that offthe menu. And I still hear from
people, did you ever take thefried chicken off the menu? Culvers is
you know, we're a bit Uh, we're different that our menu is quite

(22:11):
large compared in comparison to many ofour competitors, and are compared our competitors.
I know they look at us andsay, how can you possibly do
all that stuff? Well, youknow, you have to have systems in
place to make it work. Andit can get very hectic, it can,

(22:33):
and you want to come and workin the kitchen sometimes for an hour
you'll find out. But we do, we do have systems in place that
that do work. But our restaurantsare very busy. They are very very
busy. And how fortunate are webecause they are so busy. Well,
and you're a big time player,and uh, do you mind being called

(22:55):
fast food or do you prefer fastcasual because they're kind of categorized different.
I was reading I think it waslast week. USA Today had their ten
best Readers Choice Awards, ten bestin various categories. Culver's seven number seven
on the top ten list of bestfascual casual fast casual restaurants. And also,

(23:18):
let's see a fourth best side withthe cheese Kurds. I mean,
you're up there with the McDonald's,the in and outs, and the big
players. You know, yeah,we're I mean, we're a player,
no question about that. But Idon't look at that stuff much. You
know, it's kind of cool,you feel, all that's cool because you

(23:41):
know when you start with one restaurantand then you get your name and whatever
the wall free or whatever, HolyGod that But you know what, we
take care of ourselves. We dothe best of taking care of ourselves.
And what they call it is whetherwe're fast food or fast case, well,
I don't much care. I don'tthink of us as past food.

(24:03):
If we are where the flowest pastfoods left front of them, I'm okay
with that because we make our foodto order and we're not going to change
that. It is. It isdefinitely worth the way, that's for sure.
Now the next generation because you andyour wife Lee, Now i've seen
your daughter in the ads. Howmany kids do you have? We have

(24:26):
three? And and Lee is myex wife. I'm no, that's okay,
and it happened a number of yearsago, but we have and but
Lee is a founder of the companyand still very involved, especially with our
foundation. But we have three wonderfuldaughters. Brittany is the oldest, Shee's

(24:48):
forty two, Mandy just turned thirtyeight, and Chelsea is thirty three,
and Chelsea works for the company andthe other and all three girls participate in
our board meetings as associate board members. Okay, so there they all grew
up with Culvers and and and momand dad weren't always home kind of like

(25:12):
my parents, you know, theywere working and so but they they are
wonderful, wonderful daughters who am soproud of. So the next the next
generation going into the foreseeable future,because I don't see any signs and you
slowing down, But Culvers will beinvolved going forward? Will they be involved

(25:38):
in Culver's controling? Is that thequestion? Yeah, yeah, oh yeah,
of course they will. I don'tyou know, I'm not the CEO
any longer on the chairman of theboard. We Rick Silva is our CEO,
and he's got a great management teamor around him. But the girls

(26:03):
are, you know, they're they'recheerleaders for Culvers in a big, big
way. So let me and youknow, you you bring up something that
is for a family owned business,succession is a and a very important topic
and it's a hard one to figureout. It really is, and any

(26:29):
family owned businesses listening to that knowexactly what I'm talking about, and I
you know, I'd like to seethe family involved for a long long Well
yeah, and hopefully your your succession, Uh isn't as salacious as the HBO
show. Did you ever see thatone? Oh? That some of it?

(26:55):
Yeah, it's it's not that overthe top. I'm guessing now,
I guess that would be that oldguy. Yeah, I guess maybe it
would let me. I'm talking herewith Craig Culver, of course, of
our beloved Culver's restaurants here in notjust Wisconsin, in twenty six states.
Now he's been my guest this morning. We're getting close to having to wrap

(27:17):
it up. These these half hoursgo by so quick. All right,
Craig, I'm going to drop youoff on a deserted island. You're gonna
you're gonna be stuck there for Idon't know how long, maybe for good.
You can bring two Culver's items withyou. Well, what happens when
I eat them? I guess becausethis is magic. So you get him

(27:41):
in Uh, perpetuity, is whatI want to say. So they just
constantly get replaced. Well, Ineed something to drinks. So I'm going
to bring Culver's rip here with me, and I can't give off a butterburger,
so I'm bring a butter burger alongwith me as well. Butter burger

(28:03):
that sounds pretty good to me,that does. Yeah, and you're a
butter burger of course, cheese orno cheese. Uh, let's the heck
with it. Let's let's make ita double butterburger. That's the better answer,
all right. And also for obviouslywith Culver's and a frozen custard that

(28:26):
you're also very much known for.Uh. Do you guys have any other
sweet treats on the menu. Well, all of our malts and shakes and
concrete and uh, but they're allthey all deal with frozen custard, Rip
your float. Oh you do havea root air float? Oh heck yeah,
and we have a rip your maltor a shake as well. If

(28:48):
you haven't had one of those,try one. Uh. They are absolutely
delicious. And you know, ourripped here it stems back to the days
we were in NW riper people.Yeah, the same people that we've got
our name on it, but thepeople that make our syrup were the same

(29:11):
people that did the NW rip heeermany years ago. I don't know if
they still are or not, butthey make our rip beer s good.
Good to you know what. Iknow what I'm doing tonight, No kidding,
I won't be in Sox City.I'll go to the Middleton one.
But I've got to try to eventhe diet rub is. It's delicious,
it really is. I believe you, Craig, we are out of time

(29:34):
again. I've been talking with CraigCulver this morning of Culver's You've been listening,
Craig, thanks so much for joiningus. It was a very interesting
to hear your story, even listeningto Madison Forum already. Craig