The Untold Truth Of Culver's

The West Coast (and Texas) folks have a little something that the rest of the country doesn't with the In-n-Out Burger. The people of the Midwest just secretly smile, coyly knowing that they have a little gem of a restaurant themselves.  Culver's made their bones serving up fresh burgers, awesome custards, and the kind of friendly smile you may think you can only find at a Chick-fil-A. But the Midwest's secret awesome burger joint isn't just a Midwest thing anymore — Culver's are expanding throughout the country (but not in California, take that In-n-Out!).

If you think the In-n-Out comparison is a bit bold, it's not. People love Culver's with as much gusto as the beloved California chain. If there's a Culver's near you, you're in on the game; if there's not, you're going to wish there was one. What's going on with Culver's and how did they go from one store in Wisconsin to one of the fastest growing, and most adored, quick serve joints? Take a gander at what's going on with Culver's.

You can't say that George and Ruth Culver weren't risk takers, as they jumped feet first into a fast food chain in the 1960s — and it wasn't McDonald's. In 1961, the husband and wife purchased an A&W restaurant in Sauk City, Wisconsin. It should be noted that there were about 2,000 A&W's in the 60s, so it's not like they were purchasing some obscure chain store. They stuck with it for a while but the Culvers got out of the drive-in biz in 1968 and purchased a restaurant at Devil's Lake.  

George and Ruth's son Craig graduated from University of Wisconsin in 1973, and after a few jobs, including working at McDonald's for four years, Craig convinced George and Ruth to take a shot at the quick serve game again. As fate would have it, they ended up purchasing the very spot where their A&W stood all those years before. In 1984, Culver's opened their first location.  

Since that dicey start, Culver's has leveled the ship and become one of the most successful franchises to own. In 2009, the national franchise failure rate ran around 17 percent, Culver's was doing much better, with their franchises having a failure rate of only 1.7 percent. How do they pull that off when other places you've heard of, such as Quiznos, ran at almost a 40 percent failure rate in a comparable time period? Well, they're a bit choosy like Chick-fil-A, and unlike some chains that grew too fast and ended up in Chapter 11 (like Boston Market), Culver's is taking the tortoise route to win the race. One of the ways that Culver's guaranteed their franchises did it the Culver's way was to teach them how a Culver does it. For many years, Craig Culver personally trained all the new franchisees, and he also scouted locations that would be suitable for 10,000 cars to pass by daily. Craig doesn't train all the stores like he used to, but a store owner told me that he still stops by and inspects the stores, and he'll even go as far as inviting customers back into the kitchen so they can see how the food is prepared — as this as this video demonstrates; that's legit, not something staged for the cameras, and he's done that at numerous stores. With a commitment like that it's no wonder they do so well!

If you think Culver's sounds pretty darn good and are thinking of diving in and taking a shot at a franchise, you'll be surprised to learn that it's really not that expensive to jump in — relatively speaking. McDonald's requires you to have $500,000 just laying around to even garner interest from them, and then as much as $2 million to get everything rolling. Culver's is paltry compared to that; with an initial fee of $55,000 and then $30,000 a year after that for 15 years, plus four percent of gross sales going back to corporate — much smaller than the 50 percent Chick-fil-A takes. There is one little catch, however — Culver's requires you to have $350,000 available in liquid assets (still less than McDonald's) and all in all you'll need about $1.6 million at least to get a Culver's off the ground — still not too shabby. That all sounds well and good, but let's cut to the chase; what will you make a year if you owned a Culver's?

Results vary from location to location, but in 2015 the average Culver's netted a bit over $1.5 million a store. If you do the math that'll leave you with a nice, tidy profit. Given that very high success rate, it's still a sound investment for a quick serve restaurant, which is why Culver's are growing so rapidly.  

Root beer. Some people love it, and other people wouldn't know good taste if it hit them upside the head in the form of a frost mug. You can make the case that root beer is a regional flavor — or at least more popular in certain regions. Root beer in particular is quite the hit in Wisconsin, so it makes sense that a business founded in the Cheese-head State by a former A&W owner would have root beer. But Culver's root beer isn't just any run-of-the-mill suds, they have their own formula. The root beer is from Rochester Root Beer, but it's their own proprietary recipe. They don't really mention that aloud publicize that fact, but a few insiders have noted it to me, and if you look hard enough on the internet you'll find it mentioned in passing. It has a nice sarsaparilla flavor, and comes off a tad bit sweet and very drinkable. But in case you don't trust my root beer expertise, there's a respectable root beer blog that paints a sanguine picture that sums it up, saying, "As far as fountain root beers go, this may be the best I have had." So, it's pretty good.

Did you ever notice the correlation between popular fast food joints and charitable activities? Chick-fil-A and In-n-Out are both big into giving, so it's natural that Culver's, a restaurant that's in the same mold as those two popular chains, is also in the giving game. Culver's individual stores have stepped it up in natural disasters, such as a store in Texas rebuilding a barn after Hurricane Harvey and an Illinois store providing Thanksgiving dinners for those in need. Culver's once even donated 100 percent of their daily sales to provide a proper burial for a long-time employee.

The corporate arm does it's fair share as well, including providing scholarships for Culver's collegiate candidates. What started as a single $500 scholarship to a Culver's team member is now $4 million (and counting), including close to $500,000 worth of scholarships in 2017. If your local Culver's seems to be stocked with eager high schoolers, that could be part of the reason.

So what's the trick to making a Butterburger? A kindly manager told me the secret: They start with fresh beef — not frozen — and use a mix of three meats; sirloin, chuck, and plate. They also incorporate the puck method — which is a tried and true method that Steak-n-Shake, Five Guys, Shake Shack, and other famous recipes use. The cooking utensils are unique; they use a YUGE spatula — a solid piece, no holes in that sucker. They drop the puck on a flat top grill and then press it nice and flat to seal in the flavor — but they don't use brute force; they have a stainless steel cylinder that they use to put weight on the super large spatula to get the burger evenly flat. That's the true secret and how each burger comes out exactly the same. Culver's isn't a cheese in the middle place, like Five Guys, but rather rests it on top. As you know, the top bun gets a lop of butter on it and the toppings rest on the bottom bun. That's how the magic happens.