Culver’s to expand with 51 new locations
Openings spread across 13 states, no new ones
More places in America are going to get a taste of the ButterBurger as Culver’s plans to expand to 51 new locations this year.
The casual dining restaurant is opening locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and, of course, Wisconsin. The news was first reported by Eat This, Not That!
Eric Skrum, director of public relations and communications at Culver’s, confirmed the chain will not be expanding into any new states.
“Arkansas was the last new state we entered which was two years ago,” Skrum said. “Our current focus is to build within our current footprint.”
And it’s possible, Culver’s could be adding more than the reported 51 restaurants.
“There is the possibility that we may open more than 51 this year, but our current projections ... show that this is a number we will definitely achieve,” Skrum said. “This level of expansion has become the norm for us.
We’ve been opening new restaurant locations at approximately this rate for the last several years.”
From 2020 to
2023 the restaurant chain has opened 214 new franchises.
“While our pace has been 50 or more restaurants per year over the past four years, our expansion has always been focused on opening one new restaurant at a time,” Skrum said. “As our restaurant owner-operators and their team members continue to successfully offer a high level of hospitality while serving our made-to-order menu items, interest grows to be a part of our family. As that interest grows, we see more team members who want to use our Mentee Program to become owners and carry on that same tradition of serving our guests and community. That’s in addition to interest from guests and business entrepreneurs who also want to join.”
Skrum added Culver’s co-founder Craig Culver likes to say “It’s not the number of restaurants you have. It’s about the number of good restaurants you have.”
“And, it’s an approach we take very seriously,” Skrum said. “We extend a lot of thought and effort in selecting the right locations as well as developing our owner-operators who can best serve their community and team members.”
“We extend a lot of thought and effort in selecting the right locations as well as developing our owner-operators who can best serve their community and team members.” Eric Skrum director of PR and communications at Culver’s