industry fast casual restaurants founded sauk city wisconsin u.s. 1984 headquarters prairie du sac wisconsin key people craig culver ceo lea culver co founder phil keiser president and coo joe koss cfo products frozen custard butterburgers website www.culvers.com culver franchising system inc. 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 . 1 as of september 19 2016 the chain had 585 restaurants across the united states . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 wisconsin 1.2 midwest 1.3 beyond the midwest 1.4 future expansion 1.5 venture into casual dining 2 menu 3 sponsorships 4 official mascot 5 references 6 external links history edit sauk city restaurateur george culver started with an a & w on phillips boulevard u.s. highway 12 in 1961 . 3 4 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 . wisconsin edit 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 . at the end of 2011 445 culver s restaurants were open in 19 states . midwest edit 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 . number of culver s per state as of august 2014 . 5 beyond the midwest edit the current franchising strategy is one of contiguous expansion at a pace of about 40 new stores per year . the chain expanded into colorado springs colorado and cheyenne wyoming in 2005 followed by an opening in bowling green kentucky in july 2006 . culver s shifted its attention to developing markets beyond the midwest . in 2008 culver s expanded to the phoenix metropolitan area . as of august 2012 arizona had 13 locations . 6 culver s also opened in south carolina in 2012 . culver s of onalaska wisconsin featuring the traditional blue metal roof in 2011 culver s expanded into utah when kristin and tom davis of wisconsin relocated to utah and opened a 100 seat culver s franchise in midvale . the couple signed a development agreement for four locations in the southern half of salt lake county . 7 future expansion edit the metro 98 prototype developed in 2006 and first constructed in fort dodge is much more compact than the traditional 120 seater commonly built through much of culver s expansion . while the metro 98 has less seating to offer guests it also reduces the amount of land needed for construction by around 20 % . 8 venture into casual dining edit culver s blue spoon cafe opened its first store in prairie du sac wisconsin in 2000 as a soup sandwich salad restaurant as blue spoon creamery cafe . 9 the name blue spoon comes from the color of the spoons used at the culver s fast food restaurants . a second store in middleton wisconsin was open for two years but closed in august 2010 . 10 menu edit culver s menu features culver s trademark butterburgers and frozen custard which is also sold in bulk . a specialty is the deep fried cheese curds . 11 the menu also includes pork and fish fried chicken veggie burgers salads and sundaes . the menu is divided into seven sections sandwiches sides drinks kids meals dinners salads and desserts . items are made to order and are served at table side . culver s also sells its own brand of root beer . 4 sponsorships edit culver s sponsors sports teams including the st. cloud rox wisconsin badgers milwaukee admirals janesville jets iowa hawkeyes minnesota wild and chicago cubs . official mascot edit culver s has a mascot an anthropomorphic custard cone named scoopie . 12 references edit culver s fact sheet pdf . culver s public relations and communications department . retrieved 22 march 2015 . koslow bob november 5 2014 . culver s plans port orange restaurant . daytona beach news journal . retrieved 23 march 2015 . craig culver recalls culver s origins . hometown news llc . retrieved 7 february 2015 . a b morrison sherman 20 january 2015 . a bit of nostalgia the culver s menu . franchise chatter . retrieved 27 july 2016 . restaurant locator . culver s. retrieved 7 february 2015 . ducey lynn feb 24 2012 . smash hit gourmet burger places find meaty market in the valley . phoenix business journal . access date requires url help rattle barbara july 2010 . 400 unit restaurant chain to make utah debut in midvale . enterprise salt lake city . 40 3 1 . new design to save culver s up to 150 000 per store . qsr web . april 13 2006 . retrieved 23 march 2015 . stevens shannon april 11 1999 . culver s to go upscale with blue spoon creamery cafe . milwaukee business journal . retrieved 23 march 2015 . stocker michelle august 26 2010 . middleton s blue spoon cafe closes . capital times . retrieved 23 march 2015 . snackworthy sides . culver s. kramer mckenzie 1 july 2013 . lifesource and culver s mascot scoopie promote summer blood drive . the chicago tribune . retrieved 27 july 2016 . external links edit culver s website v t e fast food and fast casual restaurant chains in the united states chicken chains coffeehouse chains pizza chains hamburgers a & w back yard big boy burger king carl s jr. checkers rally s cook out fatburger five guys freddy s fuddruckers the habit hardee s in n out jack in the box johnny rockets krystal mcdonald s roy rogers shake shack smashburger sonic steak n shake wayback wendy s whataburger white castle asian l & l hawaiian barbecue manchu wok panda express pei wei asian diner pick up stix sarku baked goods au bon pain auntie anne s bruegger s cinnabon corner bakery cafe dunkin donuts einstein bros. great american cookies honey dew donuts krispy kreme mrs. fields nestl toll house panera bread pretzelmaker pretzel time shipley do nuts tim hortons t.j. cinnamons wetzel s winchell s beverages argo tea biggby coffee caribou coffee bean & tea leaf coffee beanery dunn bros gloria jean s jamba juice juice it up orange julius peet s planet smoothie robeks seattle s best coffee smoothie king starbucks teavana tropical smoothie cafe tully s frozen desserts baskin robbins ben & jerry s braum s bruster s carvel cold stone culver s dairy queen dippin dots fosters freeze friendly s golden spoon graeter s h agen dazs handel s kiwi yogurt maggiemoo s marble slab menchie s pinkberry red mango rita s sweet frog tastee freez tcby tropical sno tutti frutti yogen fr z yogurtland hot dogs hot dog on a stick nathan s famous portillo s wienerschnitzel mexican style tex mex baja fresh cafe rio chipotle del taco el pollo loco freebirds green red burrito moe s pancheros qdoba rubio s taco bell taco bueno taco cabana taco del mar taco john s taco mayo taco time wahoo s fish taco noodles fazoli s noodles & company sandwiches arby s atlanta bread blimpie capriotti s charley s cos cousins d angelo daphne s erbert & gerbert s firehouse subs great wraps jason s jerry s subs jersey mike s jimmy john s lenny s sub mcalister s deli miami subs mr. hero newk s eatery penn station port of subs pdq potbelly quiznos rax runza sandella s schlotzsky s steak escape subway togo s tubby s tudor s biscuit world which wich seafood arthur treacher s captain d s h. salt esquire ivar s long john silver s skippers seafood & chowder house defunct bresler s ice cream brigham s burger chef carrols d lites druther s henry s hamburgers hot n now hot sam pretzels naugles red barn sandy s zantigo retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title culver % 27s & oldid 742182261 categories companies based in wisconsinrestaurants in wisconsineconomy of the midwestern united statesfast food chains of the united statesregional restaurant chains in the united statesrestaurants established in 1984fast casual restaurantshamburger restaurantsice cream parlorsrestaurant franchisesfrozen custardhidden categories pages using citations with accessdate and no urlpages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more 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