Culver's does not act like a fast-food chain. The word ButterBurger sounds like something a county-fair stand came up with. The custard has a flavor of the day, written on a board. The founders' names are on the wall and the founders' story is on the tray liner. People who grew up in Wisconsin or Illinois tend to think of Culver's the way they think of a regional institution, something with roots. The roots are real. So is the scale, and the two need to be held in the same hand.
The short answer: Culver's is a chain
Culver's ended 2025 with 1,041 restaurants in 26 states, which makes it one of the larger burger chains in the country. The franchisor, Culver Franchising System of Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, is privately held. Private is not the same as independent. A private company with a thousand storefronts and a private equity shareholder is still a chain.
Two facts do most of the work here. The Culver family sold a minority of the company to Roark Capital in 2017, so part of every royalty dollar now flows to a private equity fund in Atlanta. And the Culver's you eat at is almost certainly a franchise. Only seven of the 1,041 restaurants are owned by the company itself.
| Question | Culver's |
|---|---|
| Is it a chain? | Yes |
| Who owns it? | Culver family (majority), Roark Capital (minority since October 2017) |
| Publicly traded? | No. Privately held, no ticker |
| How many locations? | 1,041 in 26 states at the end of 2025; 59 more planned for 2026 |
| Franchised? | Yes. 1,034 franchised, 7 company-owned |
| Founded | July 18, 1984, Sauk City, Wisconsin |
| Locally owned? | No |
Who owns Culver's?
The Culver family, mostly. The brand's legal owner is Culver Franchising System, the Prairie du Sac company that sells franchises, collects royalties, and sets the rules for every restaurant. Its shares belong to Culver family members and other individual shareholders.
On October 14, 2017, those shareholders sold a minority of their shares to affiliates of Roark Capital Group. Culver's own press release framed the deal as estate planning: a way for the family to cash out some value, stay private, and set up the next generation. Roark got a seat on the board. Craig Culver stayed on as chairman. The company said there were no plans to sell more shares, and as of September 2026 none has been announced.
Roark is worth knowing about because it owns so much of what people think of as separate restaurant brands. Its portfolio includes Subway, Inspire Brands (Arby's, Sonic, Dunkin', Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy John's), GoTo Foods (Cinnabon, Auntie Anne's, Carvel, Jamba), Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, Nothing Bundt Cakes, and, since June 2025, a majority of Dave's Hot Chicken. Culver's still lists on Roark's current investments page.
Day to day, the company is run by CEO Julie Fussner, a former Kraft Foods marketer who joined Culver's in 2017 and took the top job in April 2025, the fifth CEO in the company's history and the first woman to hold it.
Is Culver's publicly traded or on the stock market?
No. Culver's has never had an IPO, does not trade on any exchange, and has no ticker symbol. You cannot buy a share of it. Roark Capital, its outside investor, is also private. Roark has reportedly explored taking Inspire Brands public, but nothing comparable has been announced for Culver's.
Being private does not mean the numbers are hidden. Culver Franchising System reported $337.7 million in operating revenue for 2025, up 13 percent, and net income of about $125 million. That revenue is mostly royalties and fees paid by franchisees on everything the 1,034 franchised restaurants sell. It is a very good business to own, which is why a private equity firm wanted a piece of it.
Is Culver's a franchise? How many locations are there?
Culver's is a franchise system almost from top to bottom. The company started franchising in the late 1980s. A first attempt in Richland Center, Wisconsin did not work out and was unwound after about a year. The company counts its first real franchise as the Baraboo, Wisconsin store that opened in 1990. The first location outside Wisconsin came in 1995, in Buffalo, Minnesota.
At the end of 2025 the count stood at 1,041 restaurants in 26 states: 1,034 franchised and 7 company-owned, all seven of them in Wisconsin. The company added 45 net new restaurants in 2025 and planned 59 openings in 2026, every one of them franchised. Wisconsin still leads with 155 locations, followed by Illinois (140), Florida (126, heading for 140), Michigan (107), Indiana (90), and Minnesota (65). Florida is the fastest-growing state in the system by a wide margin.
One rule shapes the whole experience: Culver's requires its franchisees to be owner-operators who work in their restaurants. That is the company's own language, and it is the main reason a Culver's feels different from a Burger King run by a 400-unit operator. About 670 owner-operators run the 1,034 franchised stores, so the typical franchisee has one or two.
Why Culver's feels local when it is not
The local feel is not invented. Craig and Lea Culver, with Craig's parents George and Ruth, opened the first restaurant on July 18, 1984, in a former A&W in Sauk City. The custard was made fresh, the burgers cooked to order. Forty years later the company tells that story at every turn, and it can, because it happened.
The owner-operator rule matters too. The person who signs the franchise agreement is usually the person who is in the building at lunch, and often the one who shows up at the high school fundraiser. That is a real local presence. It is also a Culver's, running a menu it does not set, in a building it did not design, paying royalties to Prairie du Sac and, indirectly, to Roark.
Franchised is not the same as independent
None of this is an argument against eating at Culver's. The ButterBurger is a good burger. Many franchisees have been in the system for decades, take real financial risk, and run cleaner, friendlier restaurants than most independents. If the Culver's near you is excellent, that is because someone local made it excellent.
But an independent restaurant and a franchise are different animals. An independent owner writes the menu, owns the name, and keeps the margin. A Culver's owner-operator buys a license, follows the system, and sends a percentage of every sale up the chain, where the family and a private equity fund split it. When you choose Culver's to support a local business, you are supporting a local person who runs a national brand. That is a fine thing to do. It is not the same thing as supporting an independent.
A franchise that feels like home is still a franchise. The test is not the vibe. It is where the money goes when the shift is over.
Find owner-run burger and custard spots near you
The Upper Midwest is full of the real thing: drive-ins that have been flipping burgers since the 1950s, custard stands with one location and a line down the block in July, diners where the owner is also the cook. Most cities elsewhere have their own version. Google Maps buries them under sponsored chain listings and franchise pins that all look alike.
That is the problem Anything But A Chain exists to solve. The map shows only independent, locally owned restaurants and removes every chain automatically, Culver's included. Search near you and everything on the map is owned by the person running it.