Pub burgers are all the rage lately. So let’s try out some fast food pub burgers! Which burgers are we trying today? * Culver’s Fried Pickle Pub Burger * Wendy’s Pretzel Bacon Pub Burger Who is on this pub burger Quest? * Kris, much happy * Matt, a 10/10 * Amy, no cheese please And of course, our subscribers! Thanks to our small, yet coveted group. We appreciate the support. You too can join us on this food journey. All you need to do is… SUBSCRIBE! Help us sustain our podcast and keep us trying foods like these! The History of Culver’s As you may have guessed by the many references to the state on their menu… but Culver’s began in Sauk City, Wisconsin. It is a family restaurant through and through, being opened by Craig and Lea Culver and Craig’s parents George and Ruth in 1984. Though Culver’s was not their first go at the restaurant game. George and Ruth owned an A&W drive-in, located in Sauk Prairie, in 1961, and after getting their feet wet, so to speak, sold the A&W and purchased a business called Farm Kitchen Resort located in Baraboo, which they operated for another 6 years. Then, you may think they started Culver’s next. You’d be wrong! They bought back the original A&W, stayed for 6 years, and sold it again. What next? Back to Baraboo to a little supper club called the Ritz. Shortly after… careful now, you are going to get whiplash… it was back to Baraboo and back to that original A&W. But as they say, third time’s the charm. They disenfranchised and that A&W was to become Culver’s Frozen Custard and Butter Burgers. The first year was a struggle. People did not know what butter burgers were. They didn’t know what custard was. Not to mention that the restaurant was located right across from a Hardee’s, the fastest-growing burger chain at the time. But by 1987, the restaurant caught on and a second restaurant would open in Reedsburg and a third in Wisconsin Dells. In 1990 a Culver’s franchise opened in Baraboo and the business boomed. And a direct quote from Craig Culver… “Something my dad told me a long time ago: It’s not important how many restaurants we have. What’s important is how many good restaurants we have, and the only way you get good restaurants or good business or good organization, it’s leadership surrounding themselves with people who care.” And that is what they do. The company has purposely taken a slower approach to their expansion. For many years, Craig Culver personally trained all the new franchisees, scouted locations that had at least 10,000 cars to pass by daily, and to this day personally inspects each location. This approach has made the franchise one of the most successful to own. In 2009, the national franchise failure rate was approximately 17 percent across the restaurant board. Culver’s franchise failure rate was only 1.7 percent. Another thing that keeps them successful? Their delicious menu items, with ingredients sourced locally. The cheese for the curds and burgers comes from La Grander Hillside Dairy in Stanley, Wisconsin. Their root beer? They make it themselves. They always use fresh beef. The dairy for the custard is sourced from over 100 family farms in Wisconsin. They don’t cut corners and it shows. Today there are 867 locations in 26 states. History of Wendy’s Today we head back to November 15, 1969 where Dave Thomas opened his very first Wendy’s restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. Why open a fast food burger restaurant? Well, the man was obsessed with burgers. In fact, it is said he would visit any and every hamburger stand he could find. So when a friend mentioned that it was hard to get a good lunch in downtown Columbus, Dave saw it as his chance. He opened the restaurant, using his daughter’s nickname Wendy. He felt that the logo of a smiling, wholesome girl with the name “Wendy’s Old-Fashioned Hamburgers” would be the first place you went for a hamburger the way you used to get them, with fresh beef. The original menu included hot ‘n juicy hamburgers, rich ‘n meaty chili, French fries, soft drinks and a Frosty Dairy Dessert. And to top it off, this place did not cut corners on quality, or on their hamburger patties, which is how and why it became known for serving square burgers. In 1970 Wendy’s was another restaurant to claim that they introduced the Drive-Through window, a term Dave Thomas coined the “Pick-Up Window” so he could attract cruisers and joyriders to the restaurants. And by March 1978, the franchise was booming, with 1,000 restaurants and counting. Some other notable dates include… * The first Canadian restaurant opened in Ontario in September of 1975. * In November 1979, Wendy’s introduced the Salad Bar, which was very popular in the 70’s and 80’s, but wouldn’t last forever, phasing out in 2006. * In 1980, store number 2,000 opened up. * In 1983 Baked Potatoes were added to the menu * 1984, “Where’s the Beef?” (copyright) commercial aired, leading to a 31% boost in annual revenue. * In February 1985, the 3,000th restaurant opened. * In December 1992, the 4,000th restaurant opened. * In December of 1995, Wendy’s Acquired Canadian chain Tim Hortons. * In March of 1997, The 5,000th restaurant opened in Columbus, Ohio as a Wendy’s/Tim Hortons combo. * In October of 2001, the 6,000th restaurant opened in Tijuana, Mexico. It was a two-story restaurant that could hold 224 customers. * In August of 2006, Wendy’s added the Vanilla Frosty. * The following year they would add the Baconator. * In September of 2008, Wendy’s and Arby’s merged but a short three years later, they decided to go their separate ways in 2011. Today there are over 7,000 Wendy’s world wide. The States with the most Wendy’s are… * Florida - 536 * Texas - 454 * Ohio - 405 * And in the state of Iowa we have 40. The Results **SPOILER ALERT!** Listen to the episode first if you do not want the results revealed to you yet! Culver’s Fried Pickle Pub Burger * Amy - “It could use more sauce.” * Kris - “I like that Culver’s burger flavor.” * Matt - “It does get a little bready.” Wendy’s Pretzel Bacon Pub Burger * Amy - “The bun isn’t giving pretzel.” * Kris - “The crispy onions are a nice touch.” * Matt - “The honey mustard is doing the heavy lifting.” There you have it. Culver’s Fried Pickle Pub Burger gets the Quest for the Best seal of approval. Thank you all for joining us on this episode of Quest for the Best. Let us know what you thought. Have you tried these burgers? Which one was your favorite? We would love to hear your rating as well. Also, do you have any foods you would love to get the coveted seal of approval? Let us know in the comments what you want to hear next. And of course, remember to subscribe to hear the latest episodes. Additionally, donate! We could use your support! Show Notes: https://www.culvers.com/ https://www.mashed.com/121017/untold-truth-culvers/ https://www.wpr.org/whats-scoop-origin-culvers-franchise https://www.scrapehero.com/location-reports/Culver’s-USA/ https://www.wendys.com/wendys-story https://www.wendys.com/who-we-are-daves-legacy-founding-wendys https://www.statista.com/statistics/221967/number-of-wendy-s-restaurants/#:~:text=Number%20of%20Wendy’s%20restaurants%20worldwide%202011%2D2022%2C%20by%20mode%20of%20operation&text=Quick%20service%20restaurant%20(QSR)%20chain,7%2C095%20restaurants%20worldwide%20in%202022. https://www.zippia.com/advice/wendys-statistics/#:~:text=In%20North%20America%2C%20it%20is,Wendy’s%20in%20the%20United%20States. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questforthebestpodcast.substack.com/subscribe
